Miami’s iconic Mandarin Oriental, a luxury hotel at the entrance of Brickell Key, is set to close for good next month to make way for Swire Properties' crown jewel, the new Residences at Mandarin Oriental.
The hotel will permanently shut on May 31, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification letter the hospitality company filed with the state of Florida. The hotel will begin laying off 430 employees on May 31 and continue until Sept. 30, said Nancy Lee, director of people and culture at Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, in the letter.
“This is a permanent closure and there will be no recall or bumping rights,” Lee said.
Demolition of the hotel is expected to begin later this year. A representative for Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group did not immediately respond to requests to comment from CoStar News.
The planned closing marks the end of the hotel that opened in 2000. Through the years, the hotel has been the destination for celebrities such as Will Smith, John Legend and Chrissy Teigen. For 17 years, the hotel's restaurant Azul burnished the careers of multiple renowned chefs such as James Beard Award-winner Michelle Bernstein.
In 2013, the hotel won Forbes Travel Guide's coveted Five-Star Award for the first time and held onto the recognition ever since. The fixture of Miami’s luxury hospitality scene offers 295 guest rooms, 31 suites and a renowned 15,000-square-foot spa at 500 Brickell Key Drive.
The demolition makes way for the eventual development of Swire Properties’ Residences at Mandarin Oriental, a project that the developer previously called the culmination of its decades-long master plan for Brickell Key, the exclusive island enclave just east of Miami’s city center.
The new development will feature an exclusively residential, 66-story South Tower with 228 residences ranging between 2,300 square feet and 5,800 square feet. A second, 400-foot North Tower will host the new iteration of the Mandarin Oriental hotel, which will have 121 rooms, 28 hotel residences and an additional 66 private residences.
The new hotel and residential towers will be the developer's “jewel in the crown,” said Henry Bott, president of Swire Properties, in an October announcement when the project's sales pavilion opened. Swire Properties is responsible for a majority of the development on Brickell Key as well as the nearby mixed-use complex at Brickell City Centre.
The Residences at Mandarin Oriental are being developed by Swire Properties with Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group providing the branding and management services for the hotel and residences. There has been a proliferation of development of branded condo projects in South Florida as companies look for ways to introduce their brands to potential buyers.
Over 100,000 square feet of amenities are planned at the Residences at Mandarin Oriental. Plans include 11 pools, a forested yoga lawn, a hammock garden, a private tea pavilion, a dining pavilion with views of the Brickell skyline, an indoor private dining room and wine cellar, multiple restaurants, a multipurpose sports court with half-court basketball, pickleball and paddleball offerings and a signature Mandarin Oriental spa.
As of February, the Residences at Mandarin Oriental had secured over $800 million in condo sales, with sales led by Fortune Development Sales. Prices begin at $4.9 million. Construction on the development is expected to start in 2026 with an expected 2030 opening date.