A Brickell penthouse asking $60 million and a $54.5 million Miami Beach condo are joining a slew of high-priced units aiming to establish a new echelon of condo pricing as billionaires move to the Miami area.
Thus far, only one condo sale in the area has exceeded $50 million: Citadel CEO Ken Griffin’s $60 million purchase at Faena House in 2015. The most expensive condo sale so far this year was a $37 million penthouse sale at the Ritz-Carlton Residences, Sunny Isles Beach.However, a unit in contract at the Waldorf Astoria Residences Miami, scheduled to be delivered in 2027, could soon overturn Griffin’s long standing record, The Wall Street Journal reported. And a penthouse at the Residences at Six Fisher Island that had been asking $90 million is now in contract, according to Jon Paul Pérez of the Related Group, the developer. A spokesperson declined to give the sale price or name the buyer, but said another penthouse in the building is also in contract.
High-end condo sellers are hoping to take advantage of a wave of wealthy purchasers such as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who recently bought two adjacent Indian Creek homes for $68 million and $79 million, and announced last week that he would move his primary home from Seattle to Miami.
“We are attempting to set a new benchmark in luxury,” said Yamal Yidios of Ytech, developer of the Residences at 1428 Brickell, where the $60 million listing is located.
Alicia Cervera Lamadrid of Cervera Real Estate, whose firm has the listing, said she feels confident the unit can fetch its asking price. “There is more demand for that type of inventory than one would think,” she said. Until now, she said, there haven’t been many completed condos available at that price point, but developers are planning at least a dozen luxury buildings in the area.
Miami broker Miltiadis Kastanis of Douglas Elliman said he expects to see condos trade for close to $100 million between 2024 and 2026, because new-development sales will be recorded as buildings are delivered.
Other new-construction penthouses for sale in the Miami metro area include a $50 million listing at the Waldorf Astoria, a $59 million penthouse at the Aston Martin Residences, a now- $65 million penthouse at the Estates at Acqualina and a $70 million penthouse at the Residences at Rivage Bal Harbour.
“People are continuing to move to South Florida in record numbers, and there have been lots of celebrities and ultrawealthy people wanting to call South Florida home,” said Miami-area realestate agent Melissa Hoff of Compass. “I expect that we’re going to see a lot more of this in the future.”
Over the past year, about 300 employees of the hedge-fund firm Citadel have moved to the Miami area.
The Brickell penthouse, with seven bedrooms and roughly 12,000 square feet, will be delivered in 2027, said Yidios. The two-story unit will have two balconies overlooking Miami Beach, 30- foot ceilings, a private interior elevator, a wine cellar and a bar. “This is one of the most sophisticated penthouses not only in Miami but internationally,” Yidios said. The listing price is even more ambitious since Brickell is still in its infancy of luxury residential development. Currently, the area’s most expensive offering is a $27.25 million unit at the Baccarat Residences Miami.
The $54.5 million Miami Beach listing is at the Philippe Starck-designed Icon building, completed in 2005, said listing agent Liz Hogan of Compass, who shares the listing with colleague Stephanie Roy. The six-bedroom, roughly 9,000-square-foot condo has a roof deck with a saltwater pool, said Hogan. The three-level penthouse also has a private interior elevator and a wine cellar and comes with six parking spaces.
The property is held in three trusts, one of which is tied to Canada-based Robert Laplante, an executive at the retirement-industry company Groupe Sélection. After purchasing the unit from the developer as raw space for $15 million in 2013, the owners completed the build-out. It was used as a vacation property but is being sold because they are using it less often, Hogan said. Laplante couldn’t be reached for comment.
Despite continued demand, Miami’s pandemic-induced luxury sales boom has slowed in the past year due to lack of inventory, said Jonathan Miller of Miller Samuel Real Estate Appraisers and Consultants. In the third quarter, the number of luxury condo sales in the coastal mainland Miami area fell 16.1% from the same time last year, even as median sales prices rose 19.2%, according to Douglas Elliman. In Miami Beach and the Barrier Islands, sales fell 13.7% in the same period, as median sales prices rose 11.4%.
Inventory is beginning to improve, however: October marked three months of year-over-year inventory gains for condos asking at least $5 million in Miami-Dade County, according to Douglas Elliman.