Faena Residences presells Miami River penthouse for record $30M
A $3,700-per-foot presale on the river tells developers the luxury bid has moved off the beach and onto Miami's western waterfront.
The developers of Faena Residences Miami River have presold the project’s penthouse for $30 million, a record for the Miami River corridor on both total price and price per square foot. For developers weighing where South Florida’s ultra-luxury demand is still deep, the number says the premium has jumped off Miami Beach and onto the western waterfront.
Why it matters
A record presale on the Miami River, before the towers top out, reprices the entire submarket. KAR Properties, led by Shahab Karmely, and Edgardo Defortuna’s Fortune International Group are proving that the Faena brand and a river address can command beachfront pricing on land that historically traded at a discount. That matters for site selection: the buyers who once competed only for Sunny Isles or South Beach product are now underwriting the river, which pulls comparable land values, and the next round of condo pro formas, up with it. The ultra-luxury tier is running on its own logic. South Florida’s typical home value is actually down 2.9 percent over the past year to roughly $475,600, per our market data, even as an eight-figure penthouse clears at a record.
The numbers
The penthouse sold for $30 million, or about $3,700 per square foot, across 8,200 square feet of interior space plus roughly 7,000 square feet of outdoor terraces. The project at 90 Southwest Third Street comprises 440 units in two towers linked by a three-story sky bridge, designed by Rafael Viñoly. The presale sets the high-water mark for the river district on record.
What’s next
Watch whether the record pulls competing luxury sponsors to assemble river-adjacent parcels in South Florida, the way branded towers reset pricing in Edgewater and Brickell before it. If Faena’s presales pace holds, expect land brokers to remarket riverfront sites at beachfront multiples, and expect the next wave of condo launches to test just how far the ultra-luxury bid will travel inland along the water.