For the buyer who knows the home must face water, and has not yet decided whether that water is Biscayne Bay or the Atlantic.
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.
The bay and the ocean are different products. Edgewater's bayfront towers give city reach, skyline and sunrise over the water at a far lower door: Anantara Residences Miami From $1,800,000, Villa Miami From $5,750,000. Bal Harbour and Surfside give sand and a small building: Rivage Bal Harbour From $14,100,000 on a private shoreline, and Ocean House Surfside with 25 homes on the ocean, pricing on request. If you want to walk onto a beach, choose the ocean. If you want the water as a view and the city as a neighbour, choose the bay.
From the developers' published material in our building files:
Anantara Residences Miami, Edgewater. Price point: From $1,800,000. Delivery: no date on our file. Unit mix: about 120 resort residences of one and two bedrooms and about 100 condominium residences of three to six bedrooms, with about 50 hotel suites, in a 50 storey tower. Position: a two acre bayfront site. Operator or brand: Anantara, part of Minor Hotels.
Villa Miami, Edgewater. Price point: From $5,750,000. Delivery: no date on file. Unit mix: about 70 half floor and full floor homes of three to five bedrooms. Position: 700 NE 29th Street, bay frontage on two sides, views across the bay, the ocean and the skyline. Operator or brand: Major Food Group under the Villa licence.
Rivage Bal Harbour. Price point: From $14,100,000. Delivery: no date on file. Unit mix: about 56 homes of three to six bedrooms, about 3,300 to 12,600 square feet, over 25 stories. Position: about 2.7 oceanfront acres with about 200 linear feet of private shoreline. Operator or brand: Related Group and Two Roads Development.
Ocean House Surfside. Price point: no published entry price. Delivery: no date on the sheet we hold. Unit mix: 25 residences of two to five bedrooms. Position: on the ocean at 9309 to 9317 Collins Avenue, between Bal Harbour and Miami Beach. Operator or brand: MTP Oceanside LLC, marketed with Multiplan.
The entry gap is the first fact. The lowest bay entry on this list is From $1,800,000; the lowest published ocean entry is From $14,100,000. Ocean House's price is held by the desk.
A view across water to something. Our Edgewater zone page describes a bayfront with Miami Beach across it, sunrise over the water and sunset over the city. Villa Miami's developer gives every home two terraces, one for sunrise and one for sunset, with bay frontage on two sides of the tower.
The bay also keeps the city close. Anantara sits where the Design District, Wynwood, Midtown and the causeway to the beach meet, and Villa Miami has the Baywalk at its door. And the bay costs less to enter, which opens one and two bedroom homes that the oceanfront on our file does not offer.
What the bay does not give you is sand. The beach is across the causeway.
The beach itself, and a smaller building. Rivage has about 200 linear feet of private shoreline on about 2.7 acres, with oceanfront pools. Ocean House sits on the ocean in Surfside, with 25 homes and private elevators to dedicated lobbies.
The ocean also brings quieter streets and fewer neighbours. Our Bal Harbour and Surfside zone page describes Bal Harbour as effectively built out, which is why Rivage is presented as its last private shoreline.
The trade is distance from the city, a higher entry and an oceanfront set of insurance questions. Our page on oceanfront vs ocean view explains what each label promises, and what private beach access means in Florida explains what a private shoreline does and does not include.
Read the documents, not the brochure. Rivage lists private marina services among its amenities. Villa Miami's developer states that the dock, the restaurant and the helipad sit in commercial components sold separately, so their operation is not guaranteed. Anantara lists a rooftop helipad. Ask each building what you can use, on what terms and at what cost, and get it in writing.
Anantara suits the waterfront buyer who wants the bay, a hotel brand's amenity and a one or two bedroom entry. You give up sand and some privacy to hotel guests. See the Anantara dossier.
Villa Miami suits the buyer who wants a whole or half floor with water on two faces and a building run by a restaurant group. You give up the beach and certainty on the dock. See the Villa Miami dossier and Anantara or Villa Miami.
Rivage suits the buyer who wants a private shoreline and large homes in a small municipality that is effectively built out. You give up city reach and accept the highest entry. See the Rivage dossier.
Ocean House suits the buyer who wants the ocean in a building of 25 homes with private lobbies. You give up a large amenity program. See where Ocean House sits.
Resale and insurance differ between the two coasts; read is a beachfront building harder to resell and climate, insurance and the Miami buyer. A buyer who wants a water view from every room should also read which new Miami condos have a water view from every home. The desk puts the bay lines and the ocean lines side by side, with the insurance questions, in one conversation.
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.
