The Residences at Mandarin Oriental, Brickell Key: Penthouses and Upper Floors Over Biscayne Bay

The Residences at Mandarin Oriental, Brickell Key is planned for Island Drive, on the island community that Swire Properties has developed just off downtown Miami. The project is a two-tower development that replaces the existing Mandarin Oriental hotel site and is set in Biscayne Bay. According to Florida YIMBY in March 2026, the South Tower is planned at 66 stories with 228 private residences, and the 33-story North Tower will hold a smaller mix of private residences, hotel-branded residences and hotel guest rooms.

For anyone drawn to the upper floors, the siting matters as much as the height. The South Tower occupies the southern end of the island, so a high-floor residence looks across open water rather than into a neighboring tower's windows. Swire's own corporate materials describe the project as the culmination of residential development on Brickell Key, an island community the company has developed for more than four decades.

Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) designed the architecture, and the Parisian designer Tristan Auer is responsible for the South Tower interiors, as Mandarin Oriental's groundbreaking announcement describes. Residents are served by a dedicated Mandarin Oriental residential team, which shapes how the upper floors are meant to be lived in: as private homes with hotel-grade service behind them.

Florida YIMBY reported in March 2026 that Swire Properties announced the sale of the two uppermost penthouses, each at $49.9 million, for a combined $99.8 million. According to Swire, as relayed in that report, the transactions are the highest-priced condominium sales recorded on mainland Miami, at a benchmark of approximately $6,300 per square foot. Because both have sold, they are a reference point for how the building's summit is positioned rather than a current offering.

Each is a bi-level residence with nearly 8,000 square feet of interior space, Florida YIMBY reported in March 2026. The configuration it described includes five bedrooms, seven bathrooms, three powder rooms and a library, along with private elevator access, a Molteni&C kitchen with Gaggenau appliances, a separate chef's kitchen, a wine bar, a sauna, staff quarters and private storage. Haute Residence's coverage of the sales describes the same program, and adds that the interiors are meant to read as a private estate with five-star resort service.

MILLION's account of the floor plan explains the logic of the two levels. The lower level handles arrival, entertaining, guest accommodations and service support. The upper level is quieter, holding the primary suite, library, cinema and secondary bedrooms arranged for retreat. That split lets a residence of this scale host a gathering below while the private rooms above stay undisturbed.

The penthouse terraces are the clearest expression of the water frontage. Florida YIMBY reported in March 2026 that each penthouse includes a private rooftop terrace with a lap pool, a bar, and views of Biscayne Bay, the Atlantic Ocean and the Miami skyline. Haute Residence likewise describes rooftop terraces with private lap pools and built-in bars. MILLION notes that, in a penthouse with true water frontage, each terrace reads as another living room rather than leftover perimeter.

Below the penthouses, the terraces are a different proposition. Descriptions of the standard residences emphasize natural stone terraces reached through full-height glass, with an outdoor bar built in. A terrace on a high floor is shaped by wind, sun exposure and orientation as much as by depth, and the right question for any specific line is which direction it faces and how much of the terrace is covered.

Because the sources describing terrace depth and outdoor kitchen specifications for the standard residences are not primary documents, buyers should request the dimensioned floor plan and the finish schedule for the exact unit directly from the developer's sales team. Those documents show terrace depth, the position of the outdoor bar and the location of the glass sliding doors in each plan.

Ceiling height is one of the first things upper-floor buyers weigh, since it governs how a room feels against a wall of glass. Swire and Mandarin Oriental have not published a ceiling-height figure in the materials reviewed here that can be cited directly, so the sound approach is to ask the sales team for the finished ceiling height in the living areas, the primary suite and the entry foyer of the specific plan. Duplex penthouses and standard floors may differ, and the answer should come in writing from the developer.

What the published materials do confirm is the quality of the fit-out. Mandarin Oriental's announcement credits Tristan Auer with the residences, and coverage from Florida YIMBY in March 2026 lists Molteni&C kitchens with Gaggenau appliances in the penthouses. The development's published design team also includes Speirs Major for lighting, according to MILLION's report on the penthouse sale.

Interior detail at this level tends to be decided at the plan level: kitchen layout, pantry space, closet configuration, the arrangement of the primary suite relative to the view. Walking a model or reviewing the plan set with the glass lines and the window-wall placement in mind will say more about a unit's character than a list of finishes.

The water is the reason to consider the upper floors here. Florida YIMBY reported in March 2026 that the penthouse terraces look toward Biscayne Bay, the Atlantic and the Miami skyline. The same three-way combination, the bay at close range, the ocean beyond the barrier islands and the city skyline, is the logic behind the tower's position at the southern end of Brickell Key.

Views change with floor height and line. Lower and middle floors sit closer to the water and hold the activity of the bay, such as boats and the island's shoreline, within the frame. Higher floors lengthen the sightline, taking in more of the ocean horizon and the full skyline. Which of those a buyer prefers is personal, and it is worth standing in a comparable position before deciding.

The practical step is to ask the sales gallery for a view study or a line-by-line orientation chart for the floors under consideration. Compare which lines face south over open water, which face the downtown skyline, and which combine the two. Corner positions, where available, can offer more than one of these perspectives from the same residence.

Swire Properties announced the groundbreaking in a release dated October 1, 2026. The release also stated that pricing for the remaining South Tower residences begins at $7 million, and that Fortune Development Sales is exclusively managing sales. Inventory and pricing change, so those figures should be confirmed with the sales team on the day of any inquiry.

Evaluating a unit here means weighing the operating environment as well as the layout. MILLION's coverage points to a podium of amenities linking the two towers, including pools, tea and dining pavilions, a wine cellar, private dining rooms and wellness spaces, all operated under Mandarin Oriental service. For a high-floor buyer, those shared spaces are part of the daily experience of the address.

A short list of questions helps. Ask for the exact floor and line, the dimensioned plan, the finished ceiling heights, terrace depth and exposure, the view orientation, the construction schedule and the deposit structure from the developer's contract documents. Denis Smykalov and Wolsen Waterfront can help organize those questions for a conversation with the sales team and compare the plans side by side.