Which new Miami condos have private elevators?

Seven of the buildings on our file publish private elevator entry. Villa Miami in Edgewater shows a private foyer off the elevator on its full-floor plan, in a tower where every home is a half floor or a full floor, From $5,750,000. Four Seasons Coconut Grove publishes dedicated elevator access to private foyers for all 70 homes. Ocean House Surfside publishes private elevators with dedicated lobbies for its 25 homes. The Perigon publishes private elevator entry to each of about 73 homes, From $12,500,000. Ocean Terrace publishes private elevator landings, From $3,250,000. Cipriani Residences Miami and The Ritz-Carlton Residences, South Beach publish it for select or most homes.

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

Villa Miami, Edgewater. Price point: From $5,750,000. Delivery: no date on file. Unit mix: about 70 homes over 55 floors, every one a half floor or a full floor, with a three-level penthouse at the crown. Position: 700 NE 29th Street, bay frontage on two sides. Operator: Villa, under licence from Major Food Group, with Terra and One Thousand Group developing. Elevator: a private foyer of about 185 square feet off the elevator on the full-floor Villa Piano plan.

Four Seasons Private Residences Coconut Grove. Price point: on request. Delivery: no date on file; deposits of 20 percent at contract and 20 percent at groundbreaking. Unit mix: 70 residences over 20 storeys, typical homes from 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: the Four Seasons name under licence, with a Director of Residence. Elevator: dedicated elevator access to private foyers.

Ocean House Surfside. Price point: on request. Delivery: no date on the fact sheet. Unit mix: 25 residences of two to five bedrooms. Position: 9309 to 9317 Collins Avenue, on the ocean. Operator: the developer, MTP Oceanside LLC; no brand. Elevator: private elevators with dedicated lobbies.

The Perigon, Mid-Beach. Price point: From $12,500,000. Delivery: no date on file. Unit mix: about 73 homes of two to four bedrooms. Position: 5333 Collins Avenue, shoreline on the ocean and on the bay. Operator: Starwood Capital Group and Mast Capital; no brand. Elevator: private elevator entry to each residence.

Ocean Terrace, North Beach. Price point: From $3,250,000. Delivery: no date on file. Unit mix: about 52 boutique residences in a 20-story tower, about 24 furnished resort residences in the other, two duplex penthouses in each. Position: 7400 Ocean Terrace, about 350 feet of ocean frontage on about five acres of parkland. Operator: Witkoff and Ocean Terrace Holdings, with a 42-key hotel and a private club on the site. Elevator: private elevator landings.

Cipriani Residences Miami, Brickell. Price point: From $1,859,900. Delivery: summer 2027. Unit mix: 397 residences. Elevator: direct elevator entry in select residences only.

The Ritz-Carlton Residences, South Beach. Price point: on request. Delivery: planned 2027. Unit mix: 30 residences over 15 storeys. Elevator: private elevator with direct entry in most residences.

Three different things, and the brochure uses one phrase for all of them.

Direct entry. The elevator opens into the home itself, or into a foyer that belongs to the home and locks. Villa Miami's full-floor plan shows a foyer of about 185 square feet off the elevator. Four Seasons Coconut Grove and Ocean House both publish private foyers or lobbies. This is the strongest form.

A private landing. The elevator opens onto a landing shared by nobody, but the landing is a common element, not part of the home. Ocean Terrace publishes private elevator landings. Ask who may use that landing and who cleans it.

A keyed stop. One elevator serves a stack of homes and a key or fob restricts which floor it opens on. The door is still a corridor door. Read how to read a Miami floor plan for where the elevator sits on the plan, and ask each developer which of the three they mean.

Read the qualifiers. Cipriani publishes direct elevator entry in select residences; the rest of the 397 homes use a corridor. The Ritz-Carlton Residences, South Beach publishes it in most residences. In a tower of 397, "select" can mean the corners and the penthouses. Ask for the list of lines with direct entry and the price difference between a line with it and the same line without.

The buildings that publish it without a qualifier are the small ones: Four Seasons Coconut Grove, Ocean House and The Perigon state it for every home, and Villa Miami's full-floor plan shows the foyer; ask about the half floors. That is not an accident. A building of 25 to 73 homes can give each home its own elevator stop; a tower of 300 or 400 cannot without a bank of elevators that the budget then carries.

Elevators are the association's, not the owner's, and the cost sits in the budget. More elevators, fewer homes per elevator, higher fixed cost per home. Ask for the number of passenger elevators, the number of service elevators, and the homes each serves. Ask whether a service elevator exists at all, because a building where deliveries, movers and staff use the private elevator is a building where the private elevator is not private on moving day.

Ask, too, what happens when the elevator serving your home is out of service. In a building with one elevator per stack, the answer may be a walk through a neighbour's landing. Our page on what it costs to own a condo in Miami each year sets out where the elevator line sits in the budget, and the small building question explains what a small building asks of its owners.

Villa Miami suits the buyer who wants the whole floor, two terraces and a foyer of their own on the Edgewater bay. You give up a published delivery date and you carry the highest entry on the bay side. Read Villa Miami: facts worth knowing and the Villa Miami dossier.

Four Seasons Coconut Grove suits the family that wants a private foyer, a water view in every home and the Four Seasons service model in a building of 70. You give up a published price. Read whether Four Seasons Coconut Grove is worth it.

Ocean House Surfside suits the buyer who wants the fewest neighbours on the ocean and a dedicated lobby at the door. You give up a large amenity program. Read whether Ocean House is worth it.

The Perigon suits the buyer who wants private entry in a building with a resident-only restaurant and shoreline on both sides. You pay From $12,500,000. See The Perigon dossier.

Ocean Terrace suits the buyer who wants a private landing at the quiet end of the island, with a hotel and club on the site. You give up a residents-only address. See the Ocean Terrace dossier.

For the privacy question as a whole, read which oceanfront condos in Bal Harbour, Surfside and Mid-Beach are most private. The Edgewater zone page and the Coconut Grove zone page place the bay-side buildings. The desk asks each developer, in writing, which lines have direct entry and which share a landing, before you visit.