Miami's Waldorf Astoria Supertall Nears Its Full 1,049 Feet as Four More Supertall Towers Line Up Downtown

Downtown Miami's Waldorf Astoria Hotel & Residences, the 1,049-foot tower rising across Biscayne Boulevard from Bayside Marketplace, is closing in on its full height. Its developer expects it to top off before the end of 2026, which would make it Florida's first supertall building. At least four more towers in the same height class are planned within a few blocks of it, according to WLRN reporting published Nov. 9. The 100-story tower, a stack of nine offset glass cubes designed by Carlos Ott and Sieger Suarez, is expected to be finished in 2028.

The project has turned into a symbol of Miami's ambitions as a global luxury market, and of the condo boom that continues at the top of South Florida's real estate market even as the broader condo market cools.

What is being built

A building counts as supertall when it rises more than 300 meters, or about 984 feet. At 1,049 feet the Waldorf Astoria clears that mark comfortably. It sits on about an acre at 300 Biscayne Boulevard, an address given in architecture and real estate trade coverage of the project.

WLRN reported that the first three cubes hold a 205-room hotel and cubes four through nine hold 360 private condominium residences. Broker listings for the project have given slightly different residence counts, and the developer has not published a final number in the sources reviewed for this article. Ryan Shear, managing partner of the developer, PMG, told WLRN that the vast majority of the units have already been sold.

The top of the tower is the most exclusive part. A penthouse marketed as the "Mansion in the Sky" spans the top four floors. It was listed at $50 million in 2023, and its sale price has not been disclosed, according to WLRN. The top six cubes are reserved for private use. The plans also include a restaurant on the fifth floor and a ballroom on a lower floor.

PMG is developing the tower with Greybrook Realty Partners, and Hilton's Waldorf Astoria brand is the flag on the hotel and residences, according to trade coverage of the project's launch.

How far along it is

About 600 workers are on the site each day in shifts, WLRN reported. PMG expects the building to top off this year, after which roughly 400 to 500 workers will remain each day to finish the interior. Newsweek reported earlier this year that the tower had reached its 75th floor, citing PMG.

Shear described supertall towers to WLRN as complicated and time-consuming projects but very special ones, and called the Waldorf a testament to where the city is heading. Another PMG executive identified by WLRN as Stead called the building's height a "feather in Miami's cap" and said its upper floors will have unobstructed views.

The project's path has been long. Residential sales launched in 2021, and real estate outlet PROFILEmiami reported in January 2022 that the tower had sold 72% of its residences within months of launching. The same outlet reported in June 2024 that the partners had secured a $668 million construction loan, which it described as the largest construction loan in Florida history.

The supertalls coming next

The Waldorf will not be alone for long if the developers behind the next wave follow through. WLRN identified four other planned supertall projects in and around downtown Miami. The completion dates are developers' targets and could change.

Delano Residences is another PMG project. Miami RiverBridge, an 87-story tower along the river, went before city voters, who approved it in a 2022 referendum, according to WLRN.

Why the Waldorf will stay the tallest

None of the planned towers will rise above the Waldorf's 1,049 feet. Federal height limits protect the flight paths into Miami International Airport, about 5 miles away, and those limits effectively cap downtown towers at the Waldorf's height, WLRN reported.

That ceiling has shaped Miami's skyline for years. An earlier, taller design for One Bayfront Plaza exceeded federal height restrictions and was never approved, and 2017 coverage of that project in the architecture magazine Dezeen described 1,049 feet as the maximum federal aviation regulators would allow in the area.

Not everyone is cheering

Supertall towers have critics. Kheir Al-Kodmany, a professor of urban planning and policy at the University of Illinois Chicago, told WLRN that the slender "pencil towers" built in this height class have damaged other skylines from an urban design perspective, pointing to New York's experience, and warned that such buildings can raise security issues.

Miami's planned supertalls are concentrated along Biscayne Bay, Brickell and the Miami River, so together they would reshape the city's waterfront skyline within the decade.

What it says about Florida's condo market

The supertalls are rising at the top of a market that looks very different below. Statewide, Florida Realtors reported a September median condo and townhouse sale price of $293,500, down 1.8% from a year earlier, though third-quarter condo and townhouse sales were up about 3% from 2025. Older buildings have faced special assessments and higher insurance costs under the safety laws passed after the 2021 Champlain Towers South collapse in Surfside.

New construction at the luxury end is a different product: the Waldorf's residences were heavily presold years before completion, according to the developer and real estate coverage. Florida's growing population of very wealthy residents has also fueled demand for private aviation and other high-end services across South Florida, WLRN has reported.

What's next

The next milestone is the topping off, which PMG expects before the end of 2026. Interior work and the opening of the hotel and residences would follow, with completion targeted for 2028. Statewide condo data for October, the next read on the broader market, is scheduled for release by Florida Realtors on Nov. 16. The other supertall projects remain in earlier stages, with 2029 and 2030 targets that depend on financing, permits and sales.