Reshaping Miami’s Skyline

In a mission to break the city’s architectural norm, Zaha Hadid introduces a new residential tower set to redefine the city’s skyline

A new 60-story luxury residential tower is slated to change Miami’s reluctance to embrace daring architecture. Architect Zaha Hadid’s One Thousand Museum—her first residential building the US—is poised to change the hard-edged architectural doctrine embodied in Miami’s residential buildings. Known for incorporating radical forms that echo a futuristic design, Ms. Hadid is not one to simply follow norm. The building will feature 706 stories with an innovative exoskeleton for support from base to top. Although balconies are part and parcel of Miami’s residential buildings, Ms. Hadid circumvents this hurdle by obscuring these behind the bone-like support structure of One Thousand Musem.

While innovative, Ms. Hadid alongside developers Louis Birdman and Gregg Corvin still must finish the staggering $300 million financing for the project before any work can begin. Miami’s luxury market is vast and constantly expanding. Despite ongoing competition from other projects throughout the metro, the team is still confident for their project’s realization.

Since the real estate bust in 2008, more foreign buyers are placing their bets on Miami real estate and many are willing to dole out cash for tangible asset in the US. Although these investors rarely stay for more than a few weeks per year, renting out still generates considerable margins. It is a question then of whether buyers are ready to face bold architecture when the current trend has been oceanfront views and beachside amenities.

One Thousand Museum may be an indication of the city’s willingness to embrace change. To wit, more and more foreign architects are taking a stroll into Miami’s residential real estate business, including Enrique Norten, Sir Norman Foster, Herzog & de Meuron and Bjarke Ingels.

Yet despite the glowing future of One Thousand Museum in terms of architectural leverage, some still see it as a huge risk. The tower is planned on Miami’s downtown, Biscayne Boulevard, an area with a shaky luxury real estate milieu instead of Miami Beach where most of South Florida’s lucrative residential skyscrapers are standing. In perspective, many units in Miami Beach are priced at $900 to $1,400 per square foot as opposed to $450 to $500 per square foot in downtown Miami. Suggesting that Ms. Hadid’s One Thousand Museum as an anomaly given its location is not far off.

Accoring to Mr. Covin, the person responsible for the 50-story condo Ten Museum Park, One Thousand Museum will be financed in a combination of nonbank loan, developer equity and buyers’ deposit of approximately 60%. For now, he and Mr. Birdman refuse to disclose the amount of equity raised or the name of the lender.

Risks notwithstanding, the developers are pushing several elements as selling points for One Thousand Museum: a view of the Biscayne Bay, city lights of Miami Beach and, of course, the architect herself, Zaha Hadid. These points, as they are, rouse a certain excitement over the project. And with Ms. Hadid helming the design, One Thousand Museum hopes to awaken a change in the taste of Miami’s denizens enough to make the risks worth taking.

In a mission to break the city’s architectural norm, Zaha Hadid introduces a new residential tower set to redefine the city’s skyline

A new 60-story luxury residential tower is slated to change Miami’s reluctance to embrace daring architecture. Architect Zaha Hadid’s One Thousand Museum—her first residential building the US—is poised to change the hard-edged architectural doctrine embodied in Miami’s residential buildings. Known for incorporating radical forms that echo a futuristic design, Ms. Hadid is not one to simply follow norm. The building will feature 706 stories with an innovative exoskeleton for support from base to top. Although balconies are part and parcel of Miami’s residential buildings, Ms. Hadid circumvents this hurdle by obscuring these behind the bone-like support structure of One Thousand Musem.

While innovative, Ms. Hadid alongside developers Louis Birdman and Gregg Corvin still must finish the staggering $300 million financing for the project before any work can begin. Miami’s luxury market is vast and constantly expanding. Despite ongoing competition from other projects throughout the metro, the team is still confident for their project’s realization.

Since the real estate bust in 2008, more foreign buyers are placing their bets on Miami real estate and many are willing to dole out cash for tangible asset in the US. Although these investors rarely stay for more than a few weeks per year, renting out still generates considerable margins. It is a question then of whether buyers are ready to face bold architecture when the current trend has been oceanfront views and beachside amenities.

One Thousand Museum may be an indication of the city’s willingness to embrace change. To wit, more and more foreign architects are taking a stroll into Miami’s residential real estate business, including Enrique Norten, Sir Norman Foster, Herzog & de Meuron and Bjarke Ingels.

Yet despite the glowing future of One Thousand Museum in terms of architectural leverage, some still see it as a huge risk. The tower is planned on Miami’s downtown, Biscayne Boulevard, an area with a shaky luxury real estate milieu instead of Miami Beach where most of South Florida’s lucrative residential skyscrapers are standing. In perspective, many units in Miami Beach are priced at $900 to $1,400 per square foot as opposed to $450 to $500 per square foot in downtown Miami. Suggesting that Ms. Hadid’s One Thousand Museum as an anomaly given its location is not far off.

Accoring to Mr. Covin, the person responsible for the 50-story condo Ten Museum Park, One Thousand Museum will be financed in a combination of nonbank loan, developer equity and buyers’ deposit of approximately 60%. For now, he and Mr. Birdman refuse to disclose the amount of equity raised or the name of the lender.

Risks notwithstanding, the developers are pushing several elements as selling points for One Thousand Museum: a view of the Biscayne Bay, city lights of Miami Beach and, of course, the architect herself, Zaha Hadid. These points, as they are, rouse a certain excitement over the project. And with Ms. Hadid helming the design, One Thousand Museum hopes to awaken a change in the taste of Miami’s denizens enough to make the risks worth taking.