The powerhouse development duo of Swire Properties, Inc. and related companies has lifted the curtain on an upcoming office “supertower” that will rise approximately 1,000 feet above Brickell, Miami’s neighborhood adjacent to downtown. city and dotted with skyscrapers that serves as the city’s financial district. Although a growing number of residential towers under construction in South Florida are qualifying for supertall status, this lanky latest edition of Miami’s skyline, designed by none other than venerable hometown company Arquitectonica, stands out. will rank as the tallest non-residential tower in the Sunshine State upon completion. (SOM’s Southeast Financial Center debuted in 1984, currently ranks as the tallest office building in Florida, and holds the title of Miami’s fourth tallest building.)
Named One Brickell Center, the tower will bring a staggering 1.6 million square feet of Class A office space to the downtown building and feature the largest floor plates in the city for a building of its type. With construction slated to begin next year, One Brickell Center is underway as the second (late) phase of Swire Properties’ larger Brickell City Center complex, a sprawling, over $1 billion mixed-use development the first phase of which opened in 2016 after a considerable delay. Among other things, Brickell City Centre, also designed by Arquitectonica, includes a hotel, twin condo towers, a pair of office skyscrapers, half a million square feet of restaurant, retail and entertainment spread over three levels, and, of course, a colossal underground car park. The entire 9-acre resort is fused together by the so-called Climate Ribbon, an iconic sculptural feature that Arquitectonica described as a “raised latticework of steel, fabric and glass that spans 150,000 square feet (13,940 m2) and connects city blocks while protecting visitors from inclement weather, capturing sea breezes, collecting rainwater for reuse, and allowing visitors to enjoy natural light in an experience outside.
The cloud-brushing new addition to downtown Brickell applied (again) for prominence with the Federal Aviation Administration last March. Plans for a supertall were first announced in 2013 when Swire first acquired the Brickell site, but the tower project was later put on hold; the project, originally envisioned as a mixed-use tower, was resurrected earlier this year when Swire partnered with Related.
Phase two of One Brickell Center marks the first collaboration between Related, the Hudson Yards-based real estate giant, and the US real estate arm of Hong Kong-based Swire Properties Limited. In a statement, Stephen M. Ross, President and Founder of Related Companies, described the collaboration as “a groundbreaking partnership between Related Companies and Swire that will result in a truly world-class commercial office building in the heart of Miami.”
Separately, the Southeast Division of Related and Swire already have a formidable presence in South Florida. Last month, Related announced that it had tapped Frank Gehry to lead the design of a planned redevelopment program for the former Deauville Hotel site in North Beach. (Ross, who spent his teenage years growing up in Miami Beach, is also the owner of the Miami Dolphins and president and owner of the Miami Open tennis tournament and the Miami F1 Grand Prix.) In addition to downtown Brickell, Swire is the force behind Brickell Key, a master-planned gated community located on a man-made island at the mouth of the Miami River.
While design details for the new glass-clad tower are rather slim at this point, the development team teased “carefully considered and spacious” floor plans as well as outdoor terraces on each floor of the tower. , column-free interiors, a myriad of indoor/outdoor spaces, and easy access to the real bargain of amenities located in downtown Brickell.
