25 Mar 21 | Global Construction Review

Miami’s first Class-A office tower in a decade hits halfway point in booming Brickell

A 57-storey tower going up in Brickell, the financial district of Miami, has surpassed the 22nd level and is on track to be finished on schedule in 2022 if the team led by general contractor Civic Construction achieves one full level every week, its developers have announced.

Designed by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill, the firm behind the Burj Khalifa, the 650,000-sq-ft "830 Brickell" is the first standalone Class-A office tower to be developed in downtown Miami in more than a decade, say developers OKO Group and Cain International in a press notice to GCR.

It comes as financial and tech firms and high-net worth individuals flood into Miami, they say, citing stats released by the Miami Downtown Development Authority (DDA) showing the Brickell population to have hit 1.15 million, nearly double the population in 2000.

Finance firms in particular are drawn to Brickell, nicknamed "Wall Street of the South", with total assets under management by firms in downtown Miami growing from $47bn to $75bn in the five years to 2019, according to the DDA.

Brian Gale, vice chairman at Cushman & Wakefield, who oversees leasing for the project, said: "Our leasing team is in active negotiations with multiple tenants representing several hundred thousand square feet of space. Companies from across the globe are gravitating to Miami and the positive momentum of this project is welcomed as they seek a landmark location for their new corporate home."

"When our firm first set out to develop 830 Brickell, Miami was already at a tipping point for becoming a global city and domestic hub, and now the overall activity in the real estate market is beyond anything we have ever seen," said OKO Group Chairman and CEO Vladislav Doronin.

"The built-in advantage of having a blank canvas and total flexibility to customize your office, paired with the latest in technology and amenities, makes 830 Brickell the best-in-class tower for attracting out-of-state tenants looking to expand their footprints in South Florida."

Italian architecture firm Iosa Ghini Associati designed the interiors.

Designers have responded to the pandemic by incorporating including ultraviolet lighting in air filtration systems and touchless technologies.