Nearly four years after the collapse of the Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida, a Dubai developer is moving forward with a new condominium project and launching sales for so-called mansions in the sky on the site.
DAMAC International, led by United Arab Emirates billionaire Hussain Sajwani, said it has started construction on The Delmore at 8777 Collins Ave. The Delmore is set to be DAMAC's first real estate foray in the United States and sits at the site of where the Champlain Towers South tower collapsed in 2021 and killed 98 people.
The Delmore will have 37 units in two towers connected by a floating pool 125 feet in the air, according to a statement. Prices for units begin at $15 million. The developer called the residences “mansions in the sky” with four- to five-bedrooms that average 7,000 square feet. Penthouses will start at 10,000 square feet, according to the statement.
“We have been focused on delivering an ultra-luxury product to the South Florida market that is unlike anything the area has seen previously,” said Jeffery Rossely, senior vice president of development for DAMAC International, in the statement.
The 75-foot-long acrylic pool is expected to be a first of its kind for Miami, the developer said. With only four units per floor, residences at The Delmore are designed for privacy and equipped with private elevators and butlers. Zaha Hadid Architects designed The Delmore and the project's interior designer is Hirsch Bedner Associates. Miami-based CLAD Landscape Architecture and Design is in charge of the landscaping.
The tower marks a new start for the site of the Champlain Towers South disaster. Champlain Towers South — built in 1981 — collapsed in the early morning of June 24, 2021.
Although a federal investigation remains underway, a September update suggested that Champlain Towers South's collapse was likely decades in the making. Inadequate construction and the degradation of the building's reinforced concrete, particularly around the building's leaking pool deck and support columns, were named as the potential causes of the tower's collapse. The final report is expected to be released in 2026.
DAMAC's Rossely told CoStar News in an email that The Delmore "will not erase the memory of what happened on the site" nearly four years ago. Instead, "it does represent a new beginning and something of which we trust the Surfside community can be proud of ... what happened on the site brings a very different element to the" development process, one that "we have worked diligently to respect and support," Rossely added.
DAMAC acquired the site at 8777 Collins Ave. a little less than a year after the tower's collapse in 2022 in a court-ordered sale led by Avison Young.
The Delmore is rising between some of Miami's most exclusive neighborhoods, with Bal Harbor — home to the luxury Bal Harbor Shops — and Indian Creek Village, known as the Billionaire Bunker thanks to its status as the home of some of Miami's wealthiest residents only a mile away.
"There is significant demand for a product of this magnitude, especially in South Florida where the one percent continue to acquire ultra-high-end properties,” said Jay Phillip Parker, chief executive of Douglas Elliman’s Florida region, in the statement. Douglas Elliman is leading sales at The Delmore, which is expected to open sometime in 2029.
The Delmore's amenities, totaling over 55,000 square feet, include a fitness center with yoga and Pilates studios, an indoor lap pool and jacuzzi, and a more than 20,000-square-foot outdoor meditation garden.
“For the most discerning of purchases, this is going to be the next great retreat,” Parker said.