For the buyer who wants to live on the mainland, in a tower or beside the galleries, and still be on the sand on a Saturday without planning the day around it.
This page explains. Whether the building suits you is a separate conversation. Contact the desk at Miami Dossier for the current position on any building we cover.
None of them is on the beach; every building on this page sits on the mainland, with Biscayne Bay between it and the sand. The one that publishes a beach is Delano Residences, which gives owners beach club access at Delano Miami Beach under the Accor benefits program, subject to the annual benefits fee, From $760,000. Waldorf Astoria Residences Miami publishes views of Miami Beach and the Atlantic from a 100 story tower on the bay, From $3,300,000. Fouquet's in the Design District publishes a rooftop pool that overlooks the Intracoastal and South Beach, with pricing on request, and Kempinski Residences publishes bay and skyline views from a site that is not waterfront, From $3,700,000. The beach is a causeway away from all four; what differs is whether the building gives you a reason to cross it.
The same five questions, from the developers' published material:
Delano Residences & Hotel Miami. Price point: From $760,000. Delivery: no date on file. Unit mix: about 421 fully finished residences over about 90 stories; studio to two bedroom lines in the released Delano Collection on floors 20 to 47. Position: Fourth and Biscayne, Downtown Miami, views of Biscayne Bay, Miami Beach and the Atlantic; two resort pools, one on the bay deck and one in the sky. Operator: Delano under licence with Ennismore and Accor; beach club access at Delano Miami Beach as an owner benefit.
Waldorf Astoria Residences Miami. Price point: From $3,300,000. Delivery: no date on file. Unit mix: about 360 branded residences across 100 stories, one to four bedrooms plus furnished junior suites. Position: Downtown Miami, water on three sides, unobstructed views of downtown, Miami Beach and the Atlantic; a resort pool with cabanas and a private residential pool deck. Operator: Hilton Worldwide under licence of the Waldorf Astoria name.
Fouquet's Hotel & Residences Miami. Price point: no published entry price. Delivery: pre-construction. Unit mix: 143 residences of one to four bedrooms in a 25 storey tower. Position: 39 NE 39th Street, inside the Design District on nearly two acres; a 70 foot rooftop pool overlooking the Intracoastal and South Beach. Operator: Fouquet's, the Barrière Group brand, running the hotel in the tower.
Kempinski Residences Miami Design District. Price point: From $3,700,000. Delivery: no date on file. Unit mix: about 132 residences in two 23 story towers, two to four bedrooms with dens, about 2,100 to 3,100 square feet. Position: 3801 and 3883 Biscayne Boulevard at the gateway to the district, bay and skyline views to the east, not waterfront; a resort pool, a lap pool and a beach entry pool on the amenity bridge. Operator: Kempinski under licence, no hotel on the site.
Delano, by contract rather than by geography. The developer publishes beach club access at Delano Miami Beach, the hotel that gave the brand its name, as part of the Accor Ownership Benefits Program, with ALL Diamond status and an annual benefits fee. That is a chair, a towel and a reason to cross the bay, and it is the only published beach on this page. Ask what the fee is, what the club includes, whether it covers guests, and what happens to the benefit if the licence or the program changes. Read what the Delano brand does.
The other three give you a pool with the ocean in the distance. Waldorf's view line to Miami Beach and the Atlantic is published; Fouquet's rooftop pool overlooks the Intracoastal and South Beach, which from a 25 storey roof is a horizon, not a shore; Kempinski's beach entry pool is a pool with a sloped edge, in a building that is not on the water. Read what private beach access means in Florida before any sales gallery uses the word.
Downtown and the Design District reach Miami Beach by causeway, and the causeway is the variable. From Delano and Waldorf at the foot of Downtown, the crossing is the MacArthur to South Beach; from the Design District, the Julia Tuttle to Mid-Beach, with the Venetian between them. On a weekday morning the drive is short. On a Saturday in season, during a fair, a race or a boat show, the same crossing is the afternoon. A buyer who will go to the beach often should drive it at the hour they would actually go, twice, before choosing the side of the bay.
For a buyer who finds that the beach is the point, the answer is a beach building. Read the best oceanfront new condos in Miami Beach and Edgewater or Bal Harbour: bay or ocean.
Height and the city. Waldorf and Delano sell water on three sides from towers the beach cannot build: 100 and about 90 stories, with a public observation deck at Delano at about 850 feet. The Design District sells the walk: Fouquet's inside the district on NE 39th Street, Kempinski at its gateway on Biscayne Boulevard, with the galleries, the flagships and the restaurants on foot and no hotel guests at Kempinski. The mainland also sells the budget: Delano's entry at From $760,000 is the lowest on this page by a distance, and a finished one bedroom there is a different purchase from a beach tower's.
Read Downtown Miami or the Design District: walkability and service for the two districts against each other, and high-floor living in Downtown Miami for what the height costs in daily life.
Delano Residences suits the buyer who wants a published beach club and the lowest entry, in a finished home on floors 20 to 47 with a hotel below. You give up the largest homes, in later releases, and you pay a yearly benefits fee for the sand. See the Delano dossier.
Waldorf Astoria Residences Miami suits the buyer who wants to see the beach from the tallest tower on the coast and reach it by causeway when it suits. You give up a published beach of your own, and a hotel shares the tower. See the Waldorf Astoria dossier and Waldorf Astoria vs Delano.
Fouquet's suits the buyer who wants the district at the door and the ocean on the horizon from a 70 foot rooftop pool. You give up a published price and a beach; the Julia Tuttle is the route. See what the Fouquet's brand does.
Kempinski suits the buyer who wants the largest homes on this page and no hotel in the building, with three pools in place of a shore. You give up the water entirely at the site; the bay is a view, not a frontage. See the Kempinski dossier.
The Downtown Miami zone page and the Design District zone page map both districts. The desk reads the Delano benefits program and the causeway at the hour you would drive it with you before you choose a side of the bay.
Contact the desk at Miami Dossier for the current plans, pricing and availability as the developer releases them, discussed one to one.
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We hold no listings and we are not the developer. Contact the desk at Miami Dossier and we will tell you what applies to your situation, what does not, and where we would not proceed. Where a question is legal, tax or structuring, we introduce you to advisers who handle that properly rather than answering it ourselves.
Samuel Strauch is the owner of Metrik Real Estate. His team of agents represents buyers in Miami pre-construction.
A person replies within 24 hours, usually much sooner. On weekends, back on Monday morning.
