This “starchitect” is the richest name in Miami real estate

Journey

By Andrew Sessa

What’s in a name? When it comes to luxury high-rise residential real estate in Miami, the answer is upwards of $11,000 per square foot.

That’s what a 13,000-square-foot penthouse is expected to ask for when it hits the market for more than $150 million at the Raleigh, a famed Art Deco hotel being renovated by developer Michael Shvo and which will include a hotel and Rosewood residences.

How can he ask for so much? Well, partly because it was designed by world-renowned architect and renowned leather dad Peter Marino.

So-called “architects” like Marino are behind the majority of Miami’s best new towers. It’s not surprising. Just like the caviar on your lobster roll, these high-flying brand designers help developers sell Mimi’s already most expensive apartments.

“In the Miami market, it’s a real stamp of credibility and quality,” said Douglas Elliman broker Fredrik Eklund, who works with the Shore Club, another Miami Beach Art Deco icon, this one reimagined by the famous New York firm Robert AM Stern Architects. (RAMSA) for the Witkoff Group and Monroe Capital.

Homeowners who purchase units in these architect-designed buildings are “purchasing a set of properties that retain their value in any market.” This affects prices enormously,” Eklund added.

That certainly held true for homeowners at One Thousand Museum, the 62-story tower on Biscayne Boulevard that opened a few years ago as one of the last projects designed by the late Zaha Hadid. Resale condos there have fetched up to $2,100 per square foot (with one currently asking $2,700), well above the $1,740 per square foot asking for a superior unit in the neighboring Marquis Tower, not architect. Attaching an architect “name” to a project “really makes a significant difference,” confirmed Liz Hogan, broker at Compass. “It’s a way to bring buyers together and create trust.”

She points to another ongoing RAMSA project, the St. Regis Residences in Brickell. There, she noted, “buyers didn’t have questions because they trusted the architect’s name.” Some even bought without plans.

So which architect has the richest name of all? Below are five Miami towers in the works, all designed by the world’s greatest architect. We compared them to comparable non-architectural buildings nearby to see how the pricing of their superior units fared.

Baccarat Miami, Brickell

The name: This 75-story, 355-unit development from Related Group and GTIS Partners is designed by Arquitectonica – arguably the South Florida firm with the greatest international cachet, thanks to its early 1980s Atlantis condominium, whose His appearance in the “Miami Vice” credits transformed its palm-pierced facade into an icon. Here, they teamed up with New York studio Meyer Davis for the interiors and Swiss-born landscape architect Enzo Enea for the gardens.

The price: Baccarat’s nearly 6,800-square-foot duplex penthouse is asking $21.7 million, which translates to about $3,200 per square foot.

The competition: That’s nearly 20 percent less than the $3,950 sought for a 5,798-square-foot penthouse asking $22.9 million at the neighboring 20-year-old Four Seasons Residences by Handel Architects.

The difference: $750 per square foot

Shore Club, South Beach

The name: Another iconic Art Deco hotel getting the luxury real estate treatment, this property will emerge from its RAMSA-designed reboot with a 75-room Auberge hotel in the original Shore Club structure. The property will also include 49 private residences located in a 1939 building, as well as a 20-story tower and a single-family beach house, both newly constructed.

The price: Developers are keeping mum on penthouse prices, revealing only that they are asking $6,250 per square foot for the $37.5 million, 6,000-square-foot Beach House.

The competition: That’s well above what the $4,179-per-square-foot penthouse in nearby Setai hopes to achieve. At the neighboring W, a $15.5 million penthouse seeks $5,632 per square foot.

The difference: $618 on the W and $2,071 on the Setai.

The St. Regis Residences, Brickell

The name: This RAMSA tower, whose interiors are by David Rockwell, will rise 50 stories, offering residents of its 152 homes breathtaking views of Biscayne Bay, the Atlantic Ocean and the city. The Related Group and Integra Investments turned to Stern in part because of his firm’s proven track record of delivering premier quality and pricing for luxury real estate towers in Manhattan, including 15 Central Park West and 220 Central Park South, where one unit sold for $238 million, or nearly $10,000 per square foot.

The price: Nelson Stabile, co-founder and principal of Integra, estimates that the combination of Stern and St. Regis allows for a 35 percent price premium. But with the St. Regis’ 10,000-square-foot upper duplex penthouse asking $45 million, or $4,500 per square foot, developers are only looking for about 14 percent more than nearby penthouses.

The competition: That $3,950 per square foot penthouse at the Four Seasons mentioned above.

The difference: $550 per square foot.

Le Périgon, Miami Beach

The name: For this 73-unit, 17-story tower, developers Mast Capital and Starwood Capital Group teamed up with the OMA of Dutch icon Rem Koolhaas (known for his “Delirious New York” manifesto) with interior designer British Tara Bernerd. Gustafson Porter + Bowman, the landscaping company redoing the Eiffel Tower gardens ahead of this summer’s Paris Olympics, will take care of the greenery.

The price: The $6,500 per square foot, $37 million penthouse includes nearly 6,500 square feet of outdoor living space in addition to the nearly 5,700 square feet inside.

The competition: Compare that to other listings in Perigon’s Mid Beach neighborhood, most of which cost around $2,000 per square foot, including Fontainebleau condos, which are furnished. (An outlier in the famous building is asking $3,790 – but that’s been the case for over a year.)

The difference: $4,500 per square foot.

The Raleigh, South Beach

The richest name: Celebrated for its curvaceous courtyard pool, this legendary art deco beachfront hotel has developer SHVO to thank for its reinvention as a 3-acre luxury enclave designed by Peter Marino. Once completed, it will include a 55-room Rosewood Hotel and five villas spread across two period buildings; a gourmet restaurant in another; a private Langosteria club in Milan on the beach; and 40 residences in a new 17-story tower.

The price: First up in the tower is this 13,000-plus-square-foot penthouse, which Shvo said he will market for more than $150 million, or about $11,000 per square foot. But even starter units, priced at $10 million, cost nearly $4,600 per square foot.

The competition: This penthouse is more stratospheric than either of the upper units at the Setai or W mentioned above.