Surfs Up for Surfside’s Luxury Development

What was once a quiet retirement community has been dramatically transforming into a hot-spot of culture and development. New high-end condos, shops, and restaurants have sprung up in Miami’s Surfside neighborhood both enhancing the neighborhood’s appeal while still hanging onto the charm that brought people into the area in the first place. What was once a relatively unknown spot hiding between South Beach and Bal Harbour is quickly becoming one of the fastest up and coming spots in Miami.

Surfside rests along Collins Avenue from 87th St. to 96th St. nestled between the bay and the ocean and covers about one square mile. The beachside is filling in quickly with new high-end condominium developments while the bay is filling in with homes facing the bay to take advantage of all of Surfside’s scenic views. Single-family homes make up the center of Seaside resting along tree-lined streets making the town a truly wonderful mix of high-end development and small-town charm. Leading the development of Seaside are a handful of world-renowned architects such as Renzo Piano, Richard Meier, and Antonio Citterio.

One of the keys to Surfside’s charming success is a well thought out building code limiting projects to 12 stories. This ensures beachgoers get plenty of Sun, in stark contrast with the more built up areas of Sunny Isles Beach and Miami Beach.  Surfside is also conveniently located near the renowned shops in Bal Harbor and the Indian Creek Country Club attracting buyers to the Surfside market. Topping all of this off are some nearby and truly fantastic restaurants such as Harbour Grill, Le Sireneuse, 26 Sushi & Tapas, Cafe Vert, and Atlantikos.

Surfside’s reshaping goes back to 2010 when a group of developers purchased and demolished the old Beach House hotel at 94th and Collins Ave. They had planned to build a 12 story condominium complex, but the plans fell through. This led to a European investor coming in to purchase the land and build what is now the Grand Beach Hotel. The Grand Beach boasts 263 guest rooms on the East side of Collins Ave and 73 on the west. This was followed by a Residence Inn by Marriot which helped bring in an era full of more sophisticated and well-traveled visitors.

Fast-forward to four years later when architect Richard Meier and investor Nadim Ashi worked together to take on an even bigger project, the Four Seasons Hotel, and Residences at the Surf Club at 91st and Collins. The Four Seasons offered 80 hotel rooms as well as two towers with 150 luxury residences. This project was a callback to the original Surf Club, a midcentury jewel which boasted visitors such as Frank Sinatra, Winston Churchill, Elizabeth Taylor, and Grace Kelly. The Four Seasons was completed in 2017 and continues to build the newly luxurious brand of Surfside. Other major projects built in this time frame include the FENDI Chateau (58 units), Eighty Seven Park (64 Units), and Arte (18 Units).

These new projects added a total of 290 luxury units to Surfside which had a dramatic effect on the local real estate market. As of 2012, both single-family homes and condos in Surfside were valued at around $300 per square foot. This jumped to $750 per square foot in 2017, a number which continues to expand as new condos are listed and sold above the 3 million dollar mark brings that number as high as $2000 per square feet. Some units have even sold as high as $2800 per square foot.

Historically, Surfside condos maxed out around the 2,400 square feet mark, but in this new era units are now starting at this size and expanding into a wide range of units between 3,000 and 10,000 square feet. These luxurious beachside units are selling to the upper echelon at an astounding pace, and a quick search of the purchases will likely return a few names you’d recognize.

Surfside’s rise is truly something to see and experience, growing from a small quiet town to an area of wealth and luxury to rival its neighbor Bal Harbour. The two towns have quickly become more like sister neighborhoods each boasting a distinct but equal flavor of luxury and sophistication.