An Arquitectonica-designed supertall office tower is coming to Miami
The powerhouse development duo of Swire Properties, Inc. and Related Companies has pulled back the curtain on a forthcoming office “supertower” that will soar roughly 1,000 feet above Brickell, the skyscraper-studded downtown-adjacent Miami neighborhood that serves as the city’s financial district. Although a growing number of in-the-works residential towers in South Florida qualify for supertall status, this latest lanky edition to the Miami skyline, designed by none other than venerable hometown firm Arquitectonica, will rank as the tallest non-residential tower in the Sunshine State when completed. (SOM’s Southeast Financial Center debuted in 1984, currently ranks as the tallest all-office building in Florida and holds the title as Miami’s fourth-tallest building overall.)
Named One Brickell Centre, the tower will bring a staggering 1.6 million square feet of Class A office space to downtown building and feature the largest floorplates in the city for a building of its kind. With construction slated to kick off next year, One Brickell Centre is being realized as the (belated) second phase of Swire Properties’ larger Brickell City Centre complex, a sprawling, $1-billion-plus mixed-use development that’s first phase opened in 2016 after considerable delay. Among other things, Brickell City Centre, also designed by Arquitectonica, features a hotel, twin condo towers, a pair of office high-rises, a half-million square feet of dining, retail, and entertainment space spread across three levels, and, of course, a colossal underground parking garage. The entire 9-acre complex is fused together by the so-called Climate Ribbon, a signature sculptural feature that Arquitectonica has described as an “elevated trellis of steel, fabric and glass that spans 150,000 square feet (13,940m2) and connects the city blocks while protecting visitors from inclement weather, capturing sea breezes, collecting rainwater for reuse, and allowing visitors to enjoy natural light in an open-air experience.”
The cloud-brushing new addition to Brickell City Centre applied for all-important from the Federal Aviation Administration (again) this past March. Plans for a supertall were first announced back in 2013 when Swire first acquired the Brickell site but the tower scheme was subsequently put on hold; the project, originally envisioned as a mixed-use tower, was resuscitated earlier this year when Swire joined forces with Related.
The phase two One Brickell Centre marks the first collaboration between Hudson Yards-headquartered real estate behemoth Related and the U.S. real estate arm of Hong Kong-based Swire Properties Limited. In a statement, Stephen M. Ross, chairman 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, both the Southeast division of Related and Swire already enjoy a formidable presence in South Florida. Just last month, Related announced it had tapped Frank Gehry to helm the design of a redevelopment scheme planned for the old Deauville Hotel site in North Beach. (Ross, who spent his teenage years growing up in Miami Beach, is also owner of the Miami Dolphins and chairman and owner of both the Miami Open tennis tournament and F1 Miami Grand Prix.) In addition to Brickell City Centre, Swire is the force behind Brickell Key, a master-planned gated community located on a manmade island located at the mouth of the Miami River.
While design details of the glass-sheathed new tower are on the slim side at this point, the development team has teased “thoughtfully envisioned and spacious” floor plans along with outdoor terraces on every floor of the tower, column-free interiors, myriad indoor/outdoor spaces, and easy access to the veritable bonanza of amenities located within Brickell City Centre.
