Carnival to Build Global Headquarters Near Miami Airport, Unifying Cruise Brands by 2028

Carnival Corporation, the world’s largest cruise company, has purchased a 15-acre site near Miami International Airport. There, it plans to construct a new global headquarters campus, scheduled to open by 2028. The facility will consolidate more than 2,000 employees from across its various cruise lines into a single North American base of operations.

The site, located at the northeast corner of Southwest 65th Avenue and NW Seventh Street within the Waterford Business District, was acquired for $26.9 million from Nuveen Real Estate and Pacific Investment Management Co., according to the company. Blanca Commercial Real Estate, the official leasing agent for the Waterford Business District, confirmed the transaction details but did not broker the sale.

Carnival plans to develop between 600,000 and 700,000 square feet of workspace on the property, including a primary headquarters building and a dedicated onboard entertainment training and rehearsal facility. The new campus will bring together shoreside staff from Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Seabourn, Cunard, and Costa Cruises for the first time in one centralized location.

Employees will relocate from Carnival’s current Doral headquarters and other regional offices, adding hundreds of new jobs to the Miami-Dade workforce.

“Co-locating our North America shoreside team members on a shared campus — designed from the ground up to support how we work and what we do — will foster even greater knowledge sharing, innovation, efficiency, and career growth,” said Carnival CEO Josh Weinstein.

Situated in the 203-acre Waterford Business District, the new headquarters will join a tenant roster that includes major companies like Assurant and Verizon subsidiary Tracfone Wireless, which recently signed a 51,000-square-foot lease. Charles Russo, Senior Director at Nuveen Real Estate, described Carnival as the district’s “capstone employer.”

Carnival had previously begun marketing its existing 470,000-square-foot headquarters at 3655 NW 87th Avenue in Doral, indicating its intention to relocate. It was reportedly exploring a lease for approximately 300,000 square feet elsewhere at the time.

Although the company has not yet disclosed which specific offices will be consolidated into the new headquarters, the move solidifies Miami’s reputation as the world’s cruise capital. In 2024, PortMiami welcomed a record 8.2 million cruise passengers. Last month, MSC Group opened the port’s largest cruise terminal, spanning nearly 500,000 square feet.

“As the world’s largest cruise company, there is no better place for us to be based than Miami — the world’s cruise capital,” Weinstein added. “Plus, with decades of history here, this move enables us to seamlessly build on our success here to continue growing our global operations and deepening our community ties.”