The multinational company specializing in promotion, investment, and real estate management, Swire Properties, formally began construction this week on The Residences at Mandarin Oriental, Miami, in Brickell Key.
The milestone comes after the project accumulated $1.7 billion in condominium sales without having laid a single brick, as confirmed by David Martin, president of the development company, in an interview with Bloomberg.
The complex will be built on the site where the former Mandarin Oriental hotel in Miami stood, demolished by controlled implosion on April 12th. The 23-story building collapsed in less than 20 seconds, in what authorities described as the largest implosion recorded in Miami in over a decade.
The pre-sale figures are extraordinary even for the ultra-luxury market. Among the closed deals are two record penthouses, each valued at approximately 50 million dollars. The south tower, with 66 floors and 228 residences, is 80% sold; the north tower, which will also house a hotel with 121 rooms, has 25% of its residential units committed.
Since the sales of the south tower began in 2024, prices have risen by 30%, with units ranging from 4.9 million to 100 million dollars.
The buyer profile in Miami is quite unusual. About 65% are Americans, a higher proportion than usual in the city's ultra-luxury segment, which has historically relied more on international clients. Many come from California, New York, and Massachusetts, work in the financial and tech sectors, and a lot pay in cash. 30% plan to use the condo as their primary residence, while 60% intend to use it as a second home.
“The economy of Miami has changed drastically, almost beyond recognition,” declared Martin. “People are just beginning to understand what that means.”
Swire is self-financing the construction with the proceeds from the sale of assets from Brickell City Centre and part of the buyers' deposits. The completion of the complex is expected in 2030.
Martin also mentioned two major office projects in Brickell as drivers of demand: the Banco Santander tower at 1401 Brickell Avenue and the future headquarters of Citadel, Ken Griffin's hedge fund, located a few blocks to the south, both approximately 50 stories tall.
The start of the project, however, contrasts with the reality of the real estate market for most residents of Miami-Dade. The metropolitan area surpassed New York in 2026 in terms of overall cost of living, consumer prices have risen by 37% since 2019, and the average homeowner's insurance costs $8,292 annually. The average individual income in Miami-Dade is around $39,000 per year.
In the condominium market, the gap is equally evident: luxury sales above five million dollars increased by nearly 30% year-over-year in coastal areas during the second quarter of 2026, while the resale inventory rose by 119.2% and the value of new construction in Miami-Dade dropped from 8.6 billion dollars in 2025 to 5.1 billion.
Swire has been in Miami for over 40 years: in 1978, it acquired land on what was then called Claughton Island—later renamed Brickell Key—and in 2000, it opened the Mandarin Oriental with 326 five-star rooms.
The hotel closed on May 31, 2025, laying off 430 employees, before being demolished to make way for this project.
"We are competing with single-family homes in the range of eight to ten million dollars," Martin noted. "That says a lot about how people live."
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