Miami Luxury Rentals Rivaling Condos

By Jeffrey Steele, Contributing Writer

Miami—The final girder has been placed atop downtown Miami’s landmark Met 3 Tower, the third component of the $1 billion mixed-use Metropolitan Miami project. The announcement was made by MDM Group, the Met 3 developer.

Located at 299 SE 3^rd Street in downtown Miami, the tower is to include 462 rental apartments that are now under construction, with a scheduled completion in first quarter of 2016. Also included in Met 3 is a recently-opened 41,000-square-foot Whole Foods Market, the only supermarket in the city’s urban core, and an 1,800-car parking garage.

Like the rest of the development, Met 3 was designed by leading Miami architects Nichols Brosch Wurst Wolfe & Associates (NBWW).

NBWW was the design force behind the $1 billion renovation of Fountainebleau Miami Beach in 2008 and the recently-unveiled EDITION Miami Beach.

“While the housing market in downtown Miami has grown, it has not been growing throughout the entire spectrum of the residential market,” NBWW partner Igor Reyes told MHN.

“There are many condominiums breaking ground seemingly every day, but this does very little to fill the niche for younger professionals who work in downtown and want to live nearby, but may not have the resources to purchase a new luxury condominium,” he said. “As downtown Miami becomes a ‘live-work’ neighborhood, this particular niche within the housing market becomes essential. Met 3 will be the first new project catering to this market. It will be located at the intersection of Downtown and Brickell, and above the very popular Whole Foods Market.”

While the residences at Met 3 were designed for the rental market, an early decision was made to differentiate the amenities package from the packages generally expected from a rental product. “The scale and quality of the amenities far exceeds the traditional rental market rivaling those found in luxury condominiums,’ Reyes said.

Amenities include a spa, beach entry pool, gourmet kitchen residents can reserve, a lounge, fitness center, yoga room with a yoga lawn and bocce ball court. “These amenities are an essential component that sets Met 3 apart, satisfying a new need expressed by the city’s residents through the real estate market,” Reyes said.

Comprising The Met is the completed and occupied 447-unit, 40-story luxury residential tower called Met 1; Wells Fargo Center, featuring a 47-story, 752,000-square-foot Class “A” office tower; the adjacent 41-story JW Marriott Marquis Miami and Hotel Beaux Arts Miami; as well as Met 3.

The final phase of The Met will be a development featuring an upscale movie theater, restaurants, shopping and residences.

“The design aesthetics for Met 3 were driven by the necessity to develop a clear identity for the project as a luxury apartment building, and distinguish it from the neighboring, all-glass Met 2 office tower,” Reyes said. “The building offers a looser, more fluid feel, with balcony arrangements that flow up the building in a wave pattern and a very pedestrian-friendly base to complement the tower’s urban setting.”

Key Miami-Dade urban markets have undergone recent transformations in which MDM Group developments have been instrumental.