Rendering: ArX Solutions via WLRN
Miami’s skyline is approaching a new height. The Waldorf Astoria Hotel & Residences Miami is expected to top out this winter, becoming Florida’s first “supertall,” a building taller than 300 meters, or 984 feet, according to WLRN’s report by Daniel Rivero, published Nov. 9.
The 100-story tower will reach 1,049 feet at the base of downtown Miami, near Biscayne Bay and across from Bayside Marketplace. It will also set a ceiling for the city’s next generation of high-rises: Federal flight-path limits protecting Miami International Airport, about five miles away, mean no Miami building is expected to rise higher, WLRN reported.
The bigger change is what comes next. Four more supertalls are planned or moving toward construction in downtown Miami, putting the city on course to go from no buildings in this category to a cluster of them within a few years.
Nine cubes, with hotel below and condos above
Developed by PMG and designed by architect Carlos Ott with Sieger Suarez, the Waldorf Astoria is made of nine glass cubes stacked at uneven offsets. The arrangement gives the tower its distinctive, apparently shifting profile. PMG managing partner Ryan Shear told WLRN that the building’s core and elevator run straight up, despite the optical effect.
The first three cubes will contain a 205-room hotel, while the upper six are planned for 360 private residences. Shear told WLRN that the vast majority of the condos have already sold.
The project separates arrivals and uses within its lower floors. Hotel guests will enter on the first floor; residents will have a drop-off on level three; and a ballroom and wedding venue are planned for level five, where a restaurant is also slated to open. Much of the first cube is parking, according to WLRN.
At the top, a penthouse known as the “Mansion in the Sky” spans four floors. Prior coverage by Profile Miami put it at about 35,000 square feet, with wraparound windows, a private gym, movie theater, spa and interior elevators. It was listed for $50 million in 2023, according to Fox Business. The sale price has not been disclosed. Shear told WLRN the buyer is a repeat customer whose name he would not reveal.
A private court for basketball or pickleball, plus a pool and cabanas, is planned on the fourth floor. Those amenities underscore the project’s luxury focus, as does the location: WLRN reported that the tower’s views of the waterfront, PortMiami and Miami Beach are unobstructed. An observation tower once proposed on public land beside Bayside, SkyRise Miami, did not go ahead, WLRN reported in 2024.
Looking west from the 80th floor. Photo: Valentina Sandoval / WLRN News
Four more towers in the pipeline
The Waldorf Astoria is not the only downtown project aiming for supertall status. WLRN identified four others at different stages:
- Delano Residences Miami: PMG’s proposed tower a block north, at SE Third Street and Biscayne Boulevard, is also planned with a cube design by Ott. Dezeen reported on the design.
- One Bayfront Tower: Planned for the former VITAS building site, the project is gearing up for construction and is expected to be completed in 2030, according to Florida YIMBY.
- Miami RiverBridge: Planned for the James L. Knight Center and Hyatt site on the Miami River, the project was approved by Miami voters in a 2022 referendum and is expected to be completed in 2030, WLRN reported.
- 888 Brickell Miami: The Dolce & Gabbana-branded tower is beginning construction and has a projected 2029 completion date, according to Dezeen.
The schedules are projections, not guarantees. The four projects are at different stages, and their timelines may change. Together, however, they indicate the scale of the downtown development pipeline. PMG was also a co-developer of Manhattan’s 1,428-foot 111 West 57th Street, known as Steinway Tower, WLRN noted.
The debate over who gets to use the skyline
PMG executive Dan Stead described the wave of towers to WLRN as “a feather in Miami’s cap,” saying the city is “garnering the accolades of being a world-class city with the likes of London or Hong Kong or New York.”
Urban planning professor Kheir Al-Kodmany of the University of Illinois Chicago sees a risk in that comparison. He told WLRN that Miami appears to be following New York’s “Billionaire’s Row” model, where luxury towers emerge without a broader, coordinated plan, rather than the planned supertall hubs of Dubai or Shenzhen.
“Pencil towers” are “honestly, from an urban design perspective, ruining the skyline,” Al-Kodmany told WLRN. He also called concentrated luxury towers “a mega visual display manifesting socioeconomic disparity.”
Public access is another concern. Some supertalls, including London’s SkyGarden and Shanghai Tower, open upper floors to visitors through observation areas, gardens or restaurants. The Waldorf Astoria’s upper floors, by contrast, are private residences. Its planned fifth-floor restaurant and ballroom are exceptions, not public viewing decks, according to WLRN.
“They are doing the opposite. Exclusive. Private. Very few people are invited,” Al-Kodmany said. “There’s absolutely going to be some security issues.”
The next markers are concrete: the Waldorf Astoria is expected to top out this winter, with completion projected for the second quarter of 2028, according to WLRN. If the other projects advance on schedule, Miami’s skyline may look substantially different by 2030. The city’s approved 75-story Nobu tower is another sign of the changing downtown landscape, though it is not among the four additional supertalls described in WLRN’s report.
