Notes from the desk · Neighbourhood clusters

Miami neighbourhoods, weighed building by building

Thirteen zones, twenty eight buildings in tier, and a verdict on each that includes when the answer is somewhere else.

Compiled by the desk at Miami Dossier, which holds developer material on the buildings covered and represents none of them. All notes from the desk at Miami Dossier.

The Index

Every building the desk at Miami Dossier covers, grouped by the neighbourhood a buyer actually shops, and weighed against the others in it. Each page says who each building suits, who it does not, and when the honest answer is a different zone entirely. Buildings outside the coverage appear inside these pages as comparison and context rather than as subjects of their own.

Thirteen neighbourhoods

Brickell and Brickell Key: which building suits which buyer

In tier: The St Regis Residences Miami, Brickell, Baccarat Residences Brickell, 888 Brickell by Dolce & Gabbana, Cipriani Residences Miami, 619 Brickell by Nobu, The Residences at 1428 Brickell, The Residences at Mandarin Oriental, Miami.

Edgewater: three buildings, three different bets

In tier: Anantara Residences Miami, EDITION Residences Miami Edgewater, Villa Miami.

Downtown Miami: two buildings, and why they are not rivals

In tier: Waldorf Astoria Residences Miami, Casa Bella by B&B Italia.

The Design District: two buildings in a neighbourhood built for something else

In tier: Kempinski Residences Miami Design District, Miami Design Residences by Fouquet's.

Coconut Grove: the quiet answer, and its two buildings

In tier: Four Seasons Private Residences Coconut Grove, Ziggurat Coconut Grove.

North Bay Village: two buildings on an island most buyers have not heard of

In tier: The Ritz-Carlton Residences North Bay Village, Pagani Residences.

South Beach: two buildings, and the neighbourhood problem nobody mentions

In tier: The Shore Club Private Collection, The Ritz-Carlton Residences South Beach.

Mid-Beach: the same ocean, without the audience

In tier: Aman Residences Miami Beach, The Perigon Miami Beach.

Sunny Isles Beach: two buildings, and the question of the wall

In tier: The St Regis Residences Sunny Isles Beach, Bentley Residences.
Common Questions

What buyers ask the desk at Miami Dossier

How many buildings does Miami Dossier cover?
Twenty eight buildings across thirteen neighbourhoods, each carrying a three-note series, weighed against each other on the zone page for their neighbourhood.
Why do some zones have only one building?
Because that is the truth of the market. Coral Gables has an architectural code that restricts new towers, Bal Harbour is effectively built out, and Fisher Island is a finite island. In those zones the weighing is against the established stock and the neighbouring areas instead.
Are buildings outside the coverage discussed?
Yes, as comparison and context inside the cluster pages rather than as subjects of their own. Delivered buildings are frequently the most useful thing a buyer of new construction can walk, and the pages say so.
Does the desk at Miami Dossier represent any of these developers?
No. The desk at Miami Dossier represents none of the developers covered and holds no position in the buildings. Where a project's status has moved, the pages say so plainly.
If you are moving to Miami

The questions around the building

Most of the people who bring this comparison to the desk at Miami Dossier are not only choosing between buildings. They are moving to Miami from New York, California, London, Bogotá, Mexico City or São Paulo, or adding a Miami position to a portfolio held elsewhere, and the building question sits inside a larger one: how to buy new construction here, how to hold it, and what changes when you do.

The desk keeps short notes on the parts that come up every week: how buying preconstruction in Miami actually works, what a normal deposit schedule looks like, whether you need to be in Miami to buy, whether a foreign buyer can get a mortgage, what taxes a foreign buyer pays on a Miami condo, what happens if a developer delivers late, and the Florida state income tax question. For buyers arriving from a specific market there are notes for Bogotá, Mexico City and London.

Read the ones that apply, then bring the rest to the desk at Miami Dossier. It usually takes one conversation to see which of these fits, or whether neither does.

A Note on Advice

This page is general information for people considering Miami, written by a real estate desk, not by a law or accounting firm. Nothing here is legal, tax, immigration or investment advice, and it is not a substitute for advice on your own circumstances. Rules change, treaties differ by country, and the right answer for one family is the wrong answer for another.

Figures and building details are compiled from developer documents held by the desk at Miami Dossier and from public filings. They are approximate, subject to change, and anything material should be confirmed against the current developer release before you rely on it. Where the desk at Miami Dossier does not know something, the page says so.

Speak with your own attorney and CPA before you commit to anything. If you do not have one who works with international buyers in Florida, the desk is glad to recommend an attorney, a CPA or an adviser suited to your situation, and to sit in the first conversation so that nothing is lost in translation.

The Desk

The answer changes with the person asking.

Structure, financing, currency, timing, the right building and the right line: the desk works through these questions with international buyers every week. What this page cannot do is know your position. Tell us the shape of it and we will say plainly which of these fits, which does not, and what we would want to see before anyone commits.

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