For the buyer who has been told every tower in Miami has a water view, and wants to know which of these five sits on it, which looks at it, and which only sees it from the roof.
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.
Two sit on it, one looks at it and two see it from above. Faena Residences Miami publishes a site on the Miami River in the Faena District, and Waldorf Astoria Residences Miami, From $3,300,000, publishes unobstructed water on three sides of a 100 story tower in Downtown Miami. Delano Residences, From $760,000, publishes a resort pool on the bay deck at Fourth and Biscayne, with views of Biscayne Bay. Kempinski Residences Miami Design District, From $3,700,000, states plainly that its site at 3801 Biscayne Boulevard is not waterfront, with bay and skyline views to the east. Fouquet's Miami, at 39 NE 39th Street, publishes a 70 foot rooftop pool that overlooks the Intracoastal and South Beach, from a site inside the Design District. The difference is not the brochure photograph. It is the flood zone, the master policy and whether the view line belongs to the building or to a neighbour's empty lot.
Five axes, from the developers' published material only.
Waldorf Astoria Residences Miami. Price point: From $3,300,000. Delivery: no date on our file. Unit mix: ~360 branded residences across 100 stories, 1 to 4 bedrooms and furnished junior suites. Position: Downtown Miami, unobstructed water on three sides, views of downtown, Miami Beach and the Atlantic. Operator or brand: Hilton Worldwide under licence of the Waldorf Astoria name.
Delano Residences & Hotel Miami. Price point: From $760,000. Delivery: no date on our file. Unit mix: ~421 finished residences across ~90 stories above the hotel, studios through 3 bedrooms in the released collection. Position: Fourth and Biscayne, Downtown Miami, views of downtown, Biscayne Bay, Miami Beach and the Atlantic; one resort pool on the bay deck and one in the sky. Operator or brand: Delano, with Ennismore and Accor.
Faena Residences Miami. Price point: no published entry price. Delivery: approximately 2028 and 2029. Unit mix: one to four bedrooms plus River Lofts, interiors from 711 square feet. Position: the Faena District on the Miami River. Operator or brand: Faena, with KAR Properties and Fortune International Group.
Kempinski Residences Miami Design District. Price point: From $3,700,000. Delivery: no date on our file. Unit mix: ~132 across two 23 story towers, 2 to 4 bedrooms each with a den, ~2,100 to ~3,100 square feet interior, ten foot terraces. Position: 3801 and 3883 Biscayne Boulevard at the gateway to the Design District; bay and skyline views to the east; the site is not waterfront. Operator or brand: Kempinski under licence, no hotel on the site.
Fouquet's Hotel & Residences Miami. Price point: no published entry price. Delivery: no date on our file. Unit mix: 143 residences of one to four bedrooms with private terraces in a 25 storey tower. Position: 39 NE 39th Street, nearly two acres in the Design District; the rooftop pool overlooks the Intracoastal and South Beach. Operator or brand: Fouquet's, operating the hotel in the building.
The same question is answered for the other side of the bay on which Brickell or Edgewater condo is actually on the water, and city-wide on new Miami condos with a water view from every home.
Three documents. The flood zone and the elevation certificate, which decide whether a flood policy is required and how the building was built above the base flood elevation; a river site and a bay site are read differently from a boulevard site, and each is read per building. The master policy, whose windstorm line follows the exposure of the site, with a named storm deductible that reaches every owner as an assessment. And the title, which on a waterfront parcel may carry a submerged land lease, a riparian line or a seawall obligation that a Biscayne Boulevard parcel does not. Kempinski's sentence that its site is not waterfront is, read this way, a sentence about three documents the buyer will not need. Read Miami condo insurance, what a named storm deductible is and who pays it, flood zone and evacuation at Waldorf Astoria and where Faena is and whether it is on the water.
No, and the sheets are careful about the difference. Waldorf Astoria publishes "unobstructed" views; Kempinski publishes views "to the east"; Fouquet's publishes a view from the roof and none from the homes; Delano publishes views from a tower whose released collection sits on floors 20 to 47. A view belongs to a home only as far as the plan and the zoning around the site allow, and a view across a neighbour's low building is a view until the neighbour builds. The buyer reads the exposure of the line, the floor, and what may be built next door, and asks the developer which of those three it will put in writing. Oceanfront, bay front and river front are also three different facts, and this page contains none of the first. Read oceanfront vs ocean view, how to check what can be built next to a new Miami condo, sun and orientation at Delano and sun and orientation at Kempinski.
The walk. Kempinski's own material reads its address as a location decision: the bay to the east, the Design District on foot, the ocean somewhere else. Fouquet's sits on nearly two acres inside the district itself, with the Intracoastal visible from the roof and the district at the door. A waterfront site in Downtown gives the water and takes the walk to a restaurant that is not in the building, which is why Waldorf Astoria and Delano each publish several of their own. The buyer who wants to walk to dinner and the buyer who wants to see the water from bed are different buyers, and this is the page where they part. Read Downtown Miami or the Design District: walkability and service, Downtown Miami or the Design District: which condo is closest to the beach and the Design District zone page.
Waldorf Astoria suits the buyer who wants water on three sides and a hotel's hours, From $3,300,000. You give up a date and a lobby of your own. Read the Waldorf Astoria dossier.
Delano suits the buyer who wants the bay at the pool deck and the lowest entry in Downtown, From $760,000. You give up size in the released collection. Read the Delano dossier.
Faena suits the buyer who wants the river and the Faena name early, in 2028 or 2029. You give up a price, a count and a finished building. Read the Faena buyer's guide.
Kempinski suits the buyer who wants the bay from a terrace and the district on foot, From $3,700,000, and does not need the water at the door. You give up the waterfront itself, which the developer says plainly. Read the Kempinski dossier.
Fouquet's suits the buyer who wants the district itself with a hotel underneath and the water from the roof. You give up a water view from the home on the published record. Read the Fouquet's guide and the Downtown Miami zone page.
The desk reads the exposure of each line against the plan and the zoning around the site 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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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.
Miami Dossier is the private buyer advisory of Metrik Real Estate, built to represent buyers in Miami pre-construction. Principal: Samuel Strauch.
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