Miami board backs OKO's Lilli and 13th Floor's Nobu Brickell towers
Two more ultra-luxury towers clear the design board, a sign the Edgewater and Brickell branded-condo bid is still building.
Miami’s Urban Development Review Board recommended approval this week for two ultra-luxury condo towers, OKO Group’s 53-story Lilli in Edgewater and 13th Floor Investments’ 75-story Nobu-branded tower in Brickell. For developers reading where South Florida’s branded-condo demand is still deep enough to underwrite new supply, the board’s nod points squarely at the waterfront and the urban core.
Why it matters
Two towers clearing the design board on the same night says the Edgewater and Brickell pipeline is still deepening, even as the market debates how much luxury inventory the metro can absorb. Vladislav Doronin’s OKO Group is planning Lilli on a half-acre lot at 717 Northeast 27th Street, while Arnaud Karsenti’s 13th Floor, with Key International, wants to stamp the Nobu brand on a 619 Brickell Avenue site now holding a church parking lot and school. Both signal that developers with capital are still assembling small, high-value parcels and betting on premium pricing. The approvals extend the Edgewater and Brickell condo wave we tracked when Grupo T&C began vertical construction on its Edge House tower nearby, a pipeline that keeps deepening rather than thinning. For site selectors, the read is that entitlement momentum favors dense, transit-adjacent infill over greenfield.
The numbers
OKO’s Lilli is planned at 53 stories and 117 units, and one board member voted against the design. The 619 Brickell by Nobu tower is far larger at 75 stories and 321 units on nearly 2 acres, with the First Miami Presbyterian Church remaining on site. The board’s vote is a recommendation only; the city’s planning and zoning director holds final authority over the designs.
What’s next
Both projects move toward permitting from here, with the church-site tower carrying the more complex site plan. Watch how quickly each converts approval into a construction start, the truer test of demand than a design vote. For the Miami market, the branded-tower bid keeps concentrating along the bay and in Brickell, and land brokers will price adjacent parcels accordingly.