Swire Properties has broken ground on The Residences at Mandarin Oriental, Miami, officially starting construction on what the company describes as its largest luxury residential development to date and its first branded residential project anywhere in the world, according to Miami’s Community News. The project rises on Brickell Key, the 44-acre island enclave off the eastern edge of Miami’s Brickell financial district.
The development spans two towers designed by New York-based Kohn Pedersen Fox: a 33-story North Tower housing Mandarin Oriental’s future North American flagship hotel with 121 guest rooms, plus 70 private residences and 28 turnkey Hotel Collection residences, and a 66-story South Tower with 228 private residences. Delivery is on schedule for 2030, less than six months after the controlled demolition of the former Mandarin Oriental hotel that occupied the waterfront site.
Sales momentum is the story Miami’s condo market is watching. Combined sales across both towers have surpassed $1.7 billion, with more than $620 million generated in 2026 alone, including a summer quarter the developer says produced over $150 million in new sales. The South Tower is now 80 percent sold, while the North Tower has reached 25 percent sold since its Signature Gallery opened in May, driven largely by domestic buyers.
Earlier this year the project’s two crown penthouses sold to separate buyers for $49.9 million each, nearly $100 million combined, establishing mainland Miami records for both total price and price per square foot at roughly $6,300. Those benchmarks matter beyond the project: they reset pricing expectations for the city’s ultra-luxury tier, where Miami has been closing the gap with New York and Palm Beach.
“Breaking ground on The Residences at Mandarin Oriental, Miami marks another important milestone in Swire Properties’ long-term vision for Brickell Key,” said Tim Blackburn, chief executive of Swire Properties, citing the waterfront location and the Mandarin Oriental brand as differentiators in South Florida’s competitive luxury market.
Financing context explains the velocity. Swire’s sales figures, if held through closing, effectively pre-sell a large share of the towers’ value, reducing construction-loan exposure at a time when lender appetite for speculative condo risk has tightened nationally. Pre-sold branded residences with hotel management attached have been the most bankable product in Miami’s recent cycles, which is why Mandarin Oriental, Aman, Waldorf Astoria and others have attached flags to Brickell-area projects. The risk profile shifts instead to delivery execution: buyers who committed at these price points expect hotel-grade service standards on day one, and the 2030 timeline leaves no slack for the contractor delays that have plagued other Miami towers.
The construction pipeline also lands in a tight labor market. Miami-Dade’s construction employment has run near record levels through the current building cycle, and a project of this scale competes directly with other Brickell towers, hospital expansions and infrastructure work for skilled trades and project management. Developers have responded with precast and prefabrication strategies to compress schedules, and Swire’s phased two-tower approach allows one crew sequencing plan to serve both structures. Union and nonunion contractors from across Florida are expected to bid subcontract packages through the 2030 delivery window.
