For the buyer choosing a primary residence between the two cities, who will file homestead, insure the home as the one they live in, and be there in August as well as February.
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.
West Palm Beach, on the published record, is the side where a full-time owner can move in sooner and live in a building built for residents rather than guests: Alba Palm Beach was completed in June 2026, South Flagler House publishes delivery in March 2027 and Olara publishes phased delivery from late 2026, and none of the three has a hotel in it. Downtown Miami is the side with a published entry price and a hotel's staff under the home: Waldorf Astoria Residences Miami, From $3,300,000, under Hilton's management, and Delano Residences, From $760,000, above the Delano hotel, neither with a delivery date in the material on our file. The full-time owner is choosing between a city tower that runs on a hotel and a waterfront building that runs on neighbours, and between a date and a price.
Five axes, from the developers' published material only.
Waldorf Astoria Residences Miami. Price point: From $3,300,000. Delivery: no date in the material on our file. Unit mix: ~360 branded residences across 100 stories, furnished junior suites and 1 to 4 bedrooms, with hotel guestrooms in the tower. Position: Downtown Miami, views of downtown, Miami Beach and the Atlantic. Operator or brand: Hilton Worldwide under licence of the Waldorf Astoria name; a private residential pool deck and an owners lounge.
Delano Residences & Hotel Miami. Price point: From $760,000. Delivery: no date in the material on our file. Unit mix: ~421 finished residences across ~90 stories with the hotel below; studios through 3 bedrooms in the released collection. Position: Fourth and Biscayne, Downtown Miami. Operator or brand: Delano under licence with Ennismore and Accor; two resort pools, a Members' Club, the Accor benefits subject to an annual fee.
South Flagler House. Price point: no published entry price; released on request. Delivery: topped out November 2025, delivery March 2027, reported on track. Unit mix: two 28 storey towers on 3.4 acres; the Park Residences on floors 1 to 3 run about 1,800 to 3,000 square feet; approximately 80 percent sold. Position: 1355 South Flagler Drive, West Palm Beach, with Lake Worth Lagoon views. Operator or brand: Related Ross; Robert A.M. Stern Architects; a full spa, two private dining rooms, a children's playroom and teen lounge.
Olara. Price point: no published entry price; released on request. Delivery: construction at floor 15 in August 2026, phased delivery late 2026 through 2028. Unit mix: 275 residences of two to four bedrooms plus den across 26 storeys, two assigned parking spaces per residence. Position: 1919 North Flagler Drive, overlooking the Intracoastal Waterway. Operator or brand: Savanna; a 24 hour doorman, a resident manager, a private marina, a medical concierge by Sollis Health.
Alba Palm Beach. Price point: no published entry price; released on request. Delivery: completed June 2026, immediate occupancy, very limited final developer inventory. Unit mix: 55 residences of two to four bedrooms plus townhomes, 1,778 to more than 4,500 square feet, private elevators. Position: 4714 North Flagler Drive, on the Intracoastal with no fixed bridges to the Atlantic. Operator or brand: BGI Companies with Blue Road; a private dock with slips for owners.
Read the Design District or West Palm Beach for a full-time life, Fisher Island or West Palm Beach for a full-time life and Miami vs Palm Beach for a second home, which reads the same two cities for the other kind of buyer.
Downtown, a hotel is the weekday. The desk is staffed because guests are paying for it, the restaurants open because the hotel fills them, and the owner walks through a lobby that belongs to the operator. Waldorf Astoria answers that with a private residential pool deck and an owners lounge; Delano with a Members' Club, and the buyer asks which elevators go where. In West Palm Beach the weekday is residential: South Flagler House publishes private offices and a business centre, Olara a resident manager and concierge, Alba an owners' great room, library and lounge, and nobody upstairs is checking out on Sunday. Walking is the other difference. Olara publishes Currie Park and the NORA district as walkable; South Flagler House faces the Norton Sculpture Garden; Alba on North Flagler is a residential address where the car comes out. Downtown is the denser street, and a car is still the Miami answer for most errands. Read which Downtown Miami condo suits an executive buying a primary residence, living without a car at Delano and living without a car at South Flagler House.
Both sides are on the water and both are insured in two layers. The association's master policy covers the building and its named storm deductible is set by the board; the owner's own policy covers the interior, contents and the owner's share of a loss assessment. What differs is the shape of the risk the buyer reads: a 100 or 90 story tower on Biscayne Bay, run by a hotel with its own evacuation of guests, against 26 and 28 storey buildings on the Intracoastal with docks at the door. The flood zone, the elevation certificate and the storm procedure are read per building, not per city, and the full-time owner who will be at home in September reads the evacuation zone as a fact about daily life. Read Miami condo insurance, what a named storm deductible is and who pays it, flood zone and evacuation at Waldorf Astoria and flood zone and evacuation at Olara.
The one that is finished on the first of January. Florida's homestead exemption follows a primary residence the owner lives in on that date and is claimed on the county's calendar, so the delivery date decides the first tax year it applies. On the published record Alba is the only building on either side a buyer can live in this year; South Flagler House publishes March 2027; Olara publishes phased delivery from late 2026; Waldorf Astoria and Delano publish no date on our file, so the buyer reads the contract's outside date instead. The property tax base resets at purchase on both sides, and the homestead cap starts counting from the first year it applies. Occupancy is the other word the buyer settles once: a primary residence is declared to the lender, the insurer, the county and the association in the same terms, and a hotel tower's furnished lines or a rental program change nothing about what the owner has declared. Read which new West Palm Beach condo can you move into first, which West Palm Beach condo suits a couple making Florida their domicile, why property tax resets when you buy a Miami condo and primary residence, second home or investment.
Downtown Miami suits the owner who wants a city address with a hotel's depth of service and a published entry: Waldorf Astoria From $3,300,000, Delano From $760,000. You give up a date on paper, the lobby to guests, and the quiet of a building where everyone lives there. Read the Waldorf Astoria dossier, the Delano dossier and the Downtown Miami zone page.
West Palm Beach suits the owner who wants to move in on a known date into a residential building on the Intracoastal, with a dock at Alba and Olara and Stern's limestone at South Flagler House. You give up a published price and a hotel's hours. Read the South Flagler House buyer's guide, the Olara buyer's guide and the Alba buyer's guide.
The first year is read the same way on both sides: the walk-through, the move-in deposit, the insurance bound before closing, the homestead filed, the association's first budget. Read the first year of owning a Miami condo. The desk reads the delivery clause, the budget and the homestead calendar with the buyer before the reservation.
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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