Which Downtown Miami condo suits a family office?

Waldorf Astoria Residences Miami is the office's building on our Downtown file: one to four bedroom private residences in a 100 story tower managed by Hilton Worldwide under the Waldorf Astoria licence, with a private residential pool deck and an owners lounge kept apart from the hotel, From $3,300,000. Delano Residences is the smaller-ticket position, about 421 fully finished homes in a tower of about 90 stories, From $760,000, with the hotel below and an Accor benefits program that carries an annual fee. Faena Residences Miami is the early entry on the Miami River, completion approximately 2028 or 2029, pricing released on request. The office's questions are the same for all three: who signs, what the hotel shares, and what the brand costs each year.

The same five questions, put to each building from the developers' published material:

Waldorf Astoria Residences Miami. Price point: From $3,300,000. Delivery: no date in the material on our file. Unit mix: about 360 branded residences across a 100 story tower, from furnished junior suites to one to four bedroom private residences, with hotel guestrooms and suites in the same building. Position: Downtown Miami, with unobstructed views of downtown, Miami Beach and the Atlantic. Operator or brand: Hilton Worldwide manages the property under licence of the Waldorf Astoria name; Property Markets Group with Greybrook Realty Partners, S2 Development and Mohari Hospitality develop; Carlos Ott is conceptual artist with Sieger Suarez as architect of record.

Delano Residences and Hotel Miami. Price point: From $760,000. Delivery: no date in the material on our file. Unit mix: about 421 fully finished residences, studios through three bedrooms in the released collection, with the Delano Collection on floors 20 to 47; larger homes expected in later releases. Position: Fourth and Biscayne, Downtown Miami, with views of downtown, Biscayne Bay, Miami Beach and the Atlantic. Operator or brand: Delano under licence, with Ennismore and Accor as the project team; Property Markets Group develops; Carlos Ott with CUBE3 and Meyer Davis.

Faena Residences Miami. Price point: released on request. Delivery: pre-construction, completion approximately 2028 or 2029. Unit mix: one to four bedroom residences plus River Lofts, with a one bedroom from 711 square feet on the June 2026 availability sheet; the total count is not in the filed materials. Position: the Faena District on the Miami River, with the sales gallery at 90 SW 3rd St. Operator or brand: Faena, with KAR Properties and Fortune International Group.

Two of the three share a developer and a conceptual artist, so the Waldorf and Delano pair is unusually clean to compare. Our Waldorf Astoria vs Delano page runs that pair alone; the best branded residences in Downtown Miami sets all three against the brand question.

A family office buys through a trust, a company or both, and the contract has to allow it. Three questions before the reservation, in writing: whether the buyer named at contract can be assigned to an entity the same principal controls before closing, and at what fee; what the developer needs to see from that entity, which is usually the formation papers, the authority of the signer and the source of the deposit; and whether the association's rules treat the principal's family as owners or as guests when an entity holds the deed.

For a branded building there is a fourth. The brand's benefits attach to an owner. Ask whether the Accor Ownership Benefits Program at Delano, with its ALL Diamond status, names a person or an entity, and whether that person can change. Read LLC, trust or personal name and buying a Miami condo through an entity, then take the structure to counsel. The building notes on entity ownership at Waldorf Astoria and the ownership model at Delano collect the questions for each.

Both Downtown towers carry a hotel. The office should know what the residents own, what they share and what they pay for.

Waldorf Astoria. The developer publishes a private residential pool deck and an owners lounge with panoramic bay views alongside the resort pool, Peacock Alley, the signature restaurant and the signature spa. Ask which of those sit in the condominium and which in the hotel, and whether residents pay a shared facilities charge for the hotel side.

Delano. The developer publishes two resort pools, one on the bay deck and one in the sky, The Source by Delano spa and fitness, the Delano Rose Bar, a sky restaurant, a Members' Club and meeting and event rooms, plus Miami's first public observation deck at about 850 feet. A public deck and a Members' Club mean visitors in the building by design. Ask how the residential elevators are separated and how the Members' Club bills residents.

Faena. The brand built a district in Mid-Beach; the filed materials for the river do not state a hotel component or an amenity program. Ask before assuming either.

Read hotel residences in Miami: what the hotel changes for the shared facilities agreement every office should request.

A principal who buys on floor 80 lives by the elevators. The developers' material on our file does not count cars per tower for either Downtown supertall, and the office should ask for that number, the number reserved for residents, the service car for deliveries and movers, and the destination dispatch system if there is one. Our building notes on elevators at Waldorf Astoria and elevators at Delano set out the questions for each tower. The trade-off is plain: the view that justifies the floor is the view that depends on the lift.

The office underwrites a city apartment as a line in a budget. Three papers set it: the developer's estimated operating budget in the condominium documents, read per square foot and compared across the three; the brand's licence or management agreement, which says what the operator is paid and for how long; and the owner benefits program, which at Delano is subject to an annual benefits fee. A building of about 360 or 421 homes shares fixed costs across many owners, which usually reads lower per home than a boutique building but carries a bigger operator. Read the ownership file for a Downtown Miami branded condo and what the branded residence premium buys.

Waldorf Astoria suits the office that wants the larger home, the Hilton operator and a residential side the developer keeps apart from the hotel. You pay the higher entry and share a tower with hotel guests. Read the Waldorf Astoria family office diligence file and the Waldorf Astoria dossier.

Delano suits the office placing a smaller ticket in a finished home, with the Accor benefits and the Members' Club on site. You give up the private residential pool deck and accept a public observation deck in the building. Read the Delano family office diligence file and the Delano dossier.

Faena suits the office buying early into a district the brand will define, with time to structure. You give up a known delivery date and a known amenity list. Read the Faena family office diligence file.

The Downtown Miami zone page maps the district; family offices in Miami covers where the offices themselves have settled. The desk reads the entity clause, the shared facilities agreement and the first-year budget with the office before anyone signs.