Edgewater or Coconut Grove: how do walkability and service compare?

Coconut Grove is the walking neighbourhood of the two; Edgewater is a bayfront still building its street life. On service, the three buildings on our file take different routes. Anantara Residences Miami puts a hotel brand and a hotel inside the tower, From $1,800,000. Villa Miami hands the whole building to Major Food Group, From $5,750,000. Four Seasons Private Residences Coconut Grove runs a Director of Residence and à la carte services under the Four Seasons licence. Walk first, then choose the service model.

From the developers' published material in our building files:

Anantara Residences Miami, Edgewater. Price point: From $1,800,000. Delivery: no date in the material on our file. Unit mix: about 120 resort residences of one and two bedrooms and about 100 condominium residences of three to six bedrooms, beside about 50 hotel suites, in a 50 storey tower. Position: a two acre bayfront site where the Design District, Wynwood, Midtown and the causeway to the beach meet. Operator or brand: Anantara, part of Minor Hotels, in its first United States residences.

Villa Miami, Edgewater. Price point: From $5,750,000. Delivery: no date on file. Unit mix: about 70 homes, every one a half floor or a full floor, three to five bedrooms, with a three level penthouse. Position: 700 NE 29th Street, bay frontage on two sides, the Baywalk at the door and the Design District a few minutes west. Operator or brand: the Villa name under licence from Major Food Group, which programs and services the building.

Four Seasons Private Residences Coconut Grove. Price point: no published entry price; pricing held by the desk. Delivery: no date on the fact sheet we hold. Unit mix: 70 residences over 20 storeys, about 2,025 to 3,975 square feet, every one with a water view. Position: Coconut Grove, with a water view from every residence. Operator or brand: the Four Seasons name under licence, with an appointed Director of Residence.

Our Coconut Grove zone page describes mature tree canopy, narrow low-rise streets and a village centre you can walk end to end. Of the two places, the Grove is the one where a walk to dinner is the point of living there. The water is marinas and sailing, not sand.

Our Edgewater zone page is frank that Edgewater does not yet have a street life of its own; it is arriving with the buildings. What Edgewater does have is the bay and its parks. Villa Miami's developer puts the Baywalk at the door, and Anantara sits where the Design District, Wynwood, Midtown and the causeway meet, so the Design District and Wynwood are a short trip rather than a walk around the corner.

A practical test: spend an evening on foot in each place before you visit a sales gallery. Our Brickell or Edgewater page applies the same test one neighbourhood south.

This is where the three differ most.

Anantara combines a hotel and residences. About 50 hotel suites sit in the same tower as the homes, with about 130,000 square feet of amenity, about 30,000 square feet of Thai inspired gardens and a full floor Vitality Center of about 30,000 square feet. The brand runs a hospitality operation inside your building; ask what share of the amenity is private to residents (the developer gives about 25,000 square feet). See what the Anantara brand does.

Villa Miami gives the restaurant group the whole house: the kitchens, a club over three levels, a floating pool on the bay, an Italian thermal spa, an estate manager and a curator. The developer also states that the restaurant, dock and helipad sit in commercial components sold separately, so their operation is not guaranteed. Read that clause before you pay for it. See what Major Food Group does at Villa Miami.

Four Seasons Coconut Grove runs a residential model: a Director of Residence, concierge, doorman and bellman, 24/7 security and valet, and 24 hour on-call emergency repair, plus a signature restaurant on the first level with in-residence dining. Housekeeping, grocery provisioning, butler service, spa and catering are à la carte, so you pay for what you use. See what the Four Seasons name does there.

Service is paid twice: once in the association budget and again in whatever is charged by use. A hotel-and-residence tower like Anantara shares some costs with the hotel; read the shared facilities agreement. A building run by a restaurant group like Villa Miami carries a programmed club; ask what the association pays the operator. An à la carte model like Four Seasons Coconut Grove keeps the base lower and bills the extras. Our page on what the branded residence premium buys explains how to price the name apart from the service.

Anantara suits the buyer who wants a hotel's rhythm in the building and the Design District within reach, at the lowest entry of the three. You give up a village street outside and some privacy to hotel traffic. See the Anantara dossier.

Villa Miami suits the buyer who wants every home a half or full floor on the bay, and a building run like a private club. You give up certainty on the restaurant and dock, and you accept the highest entry. See the Villa Miami dossier and Anantara or Villa Miami.

Four Seasons Coconut Grove suits the buyer who wants to walk to dinner under trees and keep service by the hour. You give up a published price and date for now. A buyer splitting the year should also read living part-time in Coral Gables, Coconut Grove or Brickell. The desk compares the service agreements of all three, clause by clause, before you choose.