When Louis Birdman and Gregg Covin decided to build a luxury condo tower on Miami’s Biscayne Boulevard, the developers won approval for a 750-unit tower rising 60 stories. They enlisted internationally acclaimed architect Zaha Hadid – it will be her first skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere — to design a $300 million concrete tower that will rise over Biscayne Bay.
But rather than carve out hundreds of studios and one-bedroom apartments, the Miami-based developers decided to try something less conventional: offer massive luxury spreads with enough square footage to rival standalone mansions. The resulting One Thousand Museum Tower plan consists of a mere 83 units spanning the full 60 stories.
“We are a very limited-edition building,” says Birdman of the project, which will break ground once a round of financing is complete. “We are not a small building, but we are small in terms of the number of units.”
One Thousand Museum Tower’s smallest units, half-floor apartments encompassing 4,600 square feet, start at around $4.9 million. Full-floor units will run up to $15 million and a duplex penthouse spreading across 11,000 square feet will likely have an asking price of $30 million. Units will have private balconies, 10- to 20-foot-high ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows and access to swanky building amenities like a rooftop helicopter pad, a spa, indoor and outdoor pools, valet parking and “security” concierges.
Multifamily construction has roared back to life across the U.S. But rather than build low- to mid-range housing for the lion’s share of the population, more developers are going boutique, rolling out ultra high-end condo buildings with extra spacious, amenity-laden units promising a high degree of exclusivity.
Call them “limited edition” residences. Developers like Birdman and Covin are targeting this niche market because it translates into significantly more money for their efforts. “It’s a trend we saw in the marketplace of downtown Miami,” explains Birdman. “Units over 3,000 square feet are bringing a premium of almost double [the price per square foot] over average-sized units of 1,100 square feet.”
Other developers in the Miami area have caught on. Boutique hotelier Ian Schrager is peddling The Residences at the Miami Beach Edition, a luxury hotel-condo hybrid in Miami Beach comprised of 26 “limited-edition” condos scattered across the top floors of the existing hotel and in a new neighboring tower. The residences, set to be unveiled next year, are designed by architect John Pawson and will boast “outdoor rooms” stocked with private pools, dining areas and pergolas.
Seven weeks after the sales office opened in January, more than half of the 26 condos – which had been priced 200% higher than the local market — had reportedly already found buyers, for an average of more than $3,000 per square foot. In March two side-by-side Edition penthouses totaling more than 16,000 square feet (including 9,843 square feet of interior space) went for $34 million in South Florida’s most expensive condo deal to date.
Luxury Housing’s Latest Trend: ‘Limited-Edition’ Residences – Forbes.
