The Daily Feather — Building to Brickell’s Skies
To beach or not beach, this was the question. In September 2014, Condé Nast Traveler surprised some with, “Skip South Beach. Visit Miami’s Brickell Instead.” For those of us whose image of Miami was formed by the 1983 epic Scarface and 1996’s brilliant Birdcage, the idea of a long weekend there equated to the sand, surf, and nightlife of South Beach. Per the discerning voyager’s guide, though, “If (it’s a) modern, upscale living environment with a focus on business and luxury amenities, Brickell may be a better fit.” Yours truly discovered the more elegant, but equally trendy Brickell by necessity. According to the National Weather Service, in September 2017, Hurricane Irma became a rare category-5 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 185 miles per hour (MPH): “This made Irma the strongest hurricane ever observed in the open Atlantic Ocean, and one of only five hurricanes with measured winds of 185 MPH or higher in the entire Atlantic basin.” Already there to celebrate my birthday, the South Beach hotel was ditched for the relative safety of Brickell. From then on, the answer became, “to not beach.”
Today, of course, Brickell hotel room rates can easily run north of those of South Beach’s highest-rated resorts. Such has been the draw of Florida’s, and arguably South America’s, financial center, the sound of construction crews building high rises into the sky is deafening. It’s a challenge to keep my focus as I tap away on the keyboard. But one must ask, can it last? According to NPR, in 2008, 40 cranes peppered the downtown Miami skyline, just as a mammoth housing bubble was set to burst. In its aftermath, the cranes were, “hauled off on flatbed trucks, migrating like giant birds to wherever business is better.” The locals insist that this time will be different.
Last September, The Wall Street Journal reported that “The Miami metropolitan area…has more units under construction as a share of inventory than any other major market in the country, according to real-estate data firm CoStar Group. About 90% of all the new apartment units coming to the market are considered higher-end or rent for $2,261 a month or more. The bulk of that product is expected to be delivered in 2024.”