Clad in his trademark white suit and fedora, Alan Faena appeared on stage with development partners Edgardo Defortuna and Shahab Karmely to mark the official opening of the Faena Residences Miami Cultural Pavilion and Collaboratory. The new sales center and cultural hub, located at 90 Southwest Third Street on the Miami River, features models of the planned residences as well as a space inspired by the theater at Miami Beach’s Faena District.
“We are offering happiness,” Faena said during Saturday night’s event celebrating both the pavilion’s opening and the start of Miami’s high season. The sales gallery began welcoming buyers this spring, with contracts signed over the summer after an initial private marketing campaign aimed at friends and family, according to Defortuna.
Fortune International Group, led by Defortuna in Brickell, is partnering with New York-based KAR Properties under Karmely and Alan Faena for this project. Plans call for two 68-story towers connected by a roughly 50,000-square-foot bridge featuring amenities. Together they will house 440 condominiums ranging from one- to four-bedroom units as well as penthouses. Asking prices start at $1.4 million for standard units up to $35 million for penthouses.
Defortuna reported that nearly 100 units have already been presold for a total of $300 million, with about 60 percent of buyers coming from abroad and 40 percent domestic.
The launch party took place on the vacant riverfront site where construction will begin next year. About 250 people attended, according to Defortuna.
This development marks Faena’s second branded project in Miami-Dade County following his namesake district in Miami Beach. The brand also has projects in New York and Buenos Aires and plans future expansions into Tulum and the Middle East.
Describing his vision for the brand after speaking on stage Saturday, Faena told The Real Deal: “Faena is Faena. Faena is a place like no other,” he said. It’s “a place of fantasy, a place of entertainment, a place for fun.”
The new towers represent just one phase of a larger three-phase project spanning five acres along the river district; further details about subsequent phases remain undisclosed but are expected to focus on shared spaces including educational hubs and landscaped connections between buildings.
Among amenities planned for residents are a sky bridge housing a movie theater beneath a cathedral-like dome, an event space, library, demonstration kitchen, recording studio and more—features that Karmely says will foster community among residents.
Architect Rafael Viñoly designed what would be one of his final projects before passing away in 2023. Construction is slated to begin mid-to-late next year with completion targeted for 2029.
Buyers include international investors such as Raphaella and Christian Sigel from Brazil who purchased a two-bedroom vacation home; Dr. Ash Beharrie from Sunrise buying a unit potentially as his primary residence; and Sanjeev Raman from downtown Miami investing in an eighteenth-floor condo he may eventually occupy himself.
Recent trends show an increase in domestic condo buyers relocating from cities like New York during or after pandemic years when demand surged—though foreign interest remains strong amid concerns about local political changes affecting taxes or rental policies there.
Now that Zohran Mamdani has won New York City’s mayoral race—and proposed higher income taxes plus rent freezes—developers expect more New Yorkers may look southward for property purchases due to uncertainty back home. “I think inevitably we will get” New York buyers,” Karmely said but added he prefers people come “because this has become the city of the Western Hemisphere.”
Defortuna noted foreign buyers now feel urgency reminiscent of earlier surges: “I think that the feeling is they [foreigners] better act now. The urgency is back into the market.” He observed these clients are accustomed to preconstruction purchases paid via installments—a common process abroad—but anticipate price increases if more out-of-state Americans enter South Florida’s real estate market.
According to Defortuna, Argentinians (the home country for both him and Faena), Brazilians, Mexicans and others make up much of their buyer base so far.
Miami leads North America in branded condominium developments with dozens completed or planned—second only globally to Dubai—with competitors such as Ritz-Carlton North Bay Village or Waldorf Astoria downtown entering nearby markets soon.
Despite increased competition across South Florida’s crowded landscape—the region hosts numerous branded condo projects—the developers believe their approach stands apart: “There are a lot of people selling burgers: McDonald’s Burger King Wendy’s… What we have here is such a completely different approach,” Karmely said.
“There is no other competition because frankly you cannot pick another project that brings the combination of talent location execution capability and design we have here.”
