Construction has started on One Island Drive, the two-tower redevelopment replacing the former Mandarin Oriental, Miami on Brickell Key, with an estimated construction cost of $226 million. The project pairs a 66-story, all-residential tower with a shorter tower housing a reborn Mandarin Oriental hotel, spanning more than 1.2 million square feet of new construction on a 3.5-acre waterfront site, targeting completion in 2030.

Correcting the Tower Assignments

Recent local coverage of the sitework milestone described the taller of the two towers as the hotel building, but developer materials, architect Kohn Pedersen Fox’s own project page, and our earlier reporting on the project agree on the opposite arrangement. The 66-story, 850-foot South Tower is entirely residential, with 228 two- to five-bedroom homes, including duplex penthouses. The shorter, roughly 34-story North Tower at about 426 feet holds the 121-key Mandarin Oriental hotel along with a mix of private and hotel-branded residences. A 100,000-square-foot amenity podium connects the two towers with multi-tiered infinity pools, a spa, and landscaped gardens.

From Implosion to Sitework in Under a Year

The redevelopment has moved quickly since the original hotel closed. The 18-story, 295-room Mandarin Oriental Miami, which opened in 2000, closed on May 31, 2025, and was imploded on April 12, 2026, an event we covered as one of Miami’s largest implosions in more than a decade. A roughly six-month debris removal phase followed before sitework began in September 2026, keeping the project on the timeline developers Swire Properties and Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group outlined at the time of the implosion.

Strong Presales Ahead of Vertical Construction

The project had already drawn more than $1.3 billion in residential sales before crews broke ground, including high-value penthouse transactions reported earlier this year. Moss & Associates is serving as general contractor, and the development is targeting LEED v4 certification. Kohn Pedersen Fox’s design includes private terraces up to 12 feet deep and residences ranging from roughly 1,600 to 5,800 square feet, with interiors by Parisian designer Tristan Auer.

Part of a Broader Miami Hospitality Build Out

One Island Drive is one of several major hospitality and residential projects reshaping Miami’s waterfront at once. A few miles north, we tracked the Grand Hyatt Miami Beach, an 800-room convention hotel backed by $392 million in construction financing and targeting a late 2027 opening, while closer to Brickell Key, Domus Brickell Center is advancing as a 35-story residential tower nearing groundbreaking. Both projects underscore how much of Miami’s current hospitality and luxury residential pipeline is concentrated in and around the Brickell and Miami Beach waterfronts. Our running list of Miami’s largest construction projects tracks the wider pipeline these projects sit within.

What’s Still Ahead

The project’s 2030 completion target leaves several years of vertical construction ahead, and neither developer has published a detailed phase-by-phase schedule for the two towers or confirmed whether the residential South Tower or the hotel North Tower will top out first. No updated figure has been released on how much of the $226 million construction estimate covers site and foundation work now underway versus the vertical construction still to come.

Project Fact Sheet

• Project Name: One Island Drive / The Residences at Mandarin Oriental, Miami
• Location: 750 Claughton Island Dr, Brickell Key, Miami, FL 33131
• Project Value: Estimated $226 million construction cost; more than $1.3 billion in residential sales recorded ahead of vertical construction
• Site Size: 3.5-acre waterfront site
• Client/Developer: Swire Properties and Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group
• Architect: Kohn Pedersen Fox
• General Contractor: Moss & Associates
• Key Components: Two towers connected by a 100,000 sq ft amenity podium; a 66-story, 850-foot South Tower with 228 residential units; a roughly 34-story, 426-foot North Tower with a 121-key Mandarin Oriental hotel plus private and hotel-branded residences
• Total New Construction: More than 1.2 million square feet
• Certification Target: LEED v4
• Site History: Former 18-story, 295-room Mandarin Oriental Miami (opened 2000); closed May 31, 2025; imploded April 12, 2026
• Construction Start: Sitework began September 2026
• Expected Completion: 2030

Project Team

• Developers: Swire Properties; Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group
• Architect: Kohn Pedersen Fox
• General Contractor: Moss & Associates