UNA Residences Brickell vs. 619 Residences Brickell: Two Bayfront Towers on Biscayne Bay

UNA Residences Brickell and 619 Residences Brickell both claim a place on Biscayne Bay in one of Miami's densest residential districts, yet they sit at very different points in their life cycles. UNA Residences Brickell has risen to full height and, according to the project's official website in 2026, is marketing immediate occupancy with limited inventory remaining. 619 Residences Brickell, by contrast, is presented on the Brickell.com project page as a luxury waterfront condominium tower currently planned for 619 Brickell Avenue.

That difference shapes almost every practical question a buyer will ask. With UNA, a purchaser can walk through a finished building and judge the outlook from a real terrace. With 619 Brickell, the decision rests on plans, stack diagrams and view studies, which is why a published design review of the tower urges buyers to separate architectural intent from a commitment that applies to the specific home they are purchasing.

The two projects also come from different design philosophies. UNA is a yacht-inspired tower by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture. 619 Brickell is a Foster + Partners design with a twisting form, developed with the Nobu Hospitality brand. Both are glass towers, but they approach the bay in distinct ways.

UNA Residences Brickell sits at the southern edge of the neighborhood. Brickell.com places the development in South Brickell at 25th Street and Brickell Avenue, and the project's official website lists its address as 175 SE 25th Rd. The Real Deal described the project in March 2018 as a collection of Brickell waterfront condos on the neighborhood's southern edge, and Florida YIMBY called it Brickell's first waterfront residential development in over a decade when the tower topped off in April 2024.

619 Residences Brickell occupies a different pocket of the neighborhood, at 619 Brickell Avenue in the heart of Brickell. A project overview describes the Foster + Partners tower as standing between Miami's oldest Presbyterian church and Biscayne Bay, with banks, restaurants, supermarkets and Brickell City Centre nearby. The setting is more central and more urban than UNA's southern edge.

For a buyer, the contrast is practical. UNA reads as a bayside retreat at the neighborhood's edge, while 619 Brickell places its residents in the middle of the financial district's daily activity with the bay at the back door. Neither is inherently better. The right choice depends on whether quiet distance or immediate walkability matters more to the way you live on the water.

UNA's official website describes panoramic water views, private elevator entry and expansive terraces. Vive Miami reported in April 2018 that the residences include 180-degree terraces with Biscayne Bay views. When the tower topped off in April 2024, Florida YIMBY reported that its condominiums offered views toward the Atlantic Ocean, Key Biscayne and downtown. Key Biscayne sits across the bay from this stretch of Brickell, so that reference describes outlooks that reach beyond the immediate shoreline.

At 619 Brickell, the tower's twisting geometry is the central design idea, and a published design review argues that it turns floor selection into a question of orientation and terrace geometry rather than height alone. It advises buyers to ask for residence-specific view studies and to distinguish direct outlooks from angled ones. One project overview states that all residences have panoramic Biscayne Bay views, but the same review cautions that the broadest view associated with an address is not the same as the outlook from the rooms you will actually use.

The shared lesson is to compare residences, not renderings. Ask each project for the exact line of sight from the living room, the primary suite and the terrace of the specific home, and ask which neighboring buildings or architectural features could shape that view.

The clearest amenity divide is the water access itself. The Real Deal reported in March 2018 that UNA's amenities would range from a state-of-the-art spa to a private marina, and Vive Miami reported in April 2018 that residents would have access to the building's private marina. It also reported that landscape architect Enzo Enea was creating a private bayside garden and that the spa would be operated by Aman. For boat owners, a building-controlled marina is a significant point of difference, and buyers should ask UNA about slip availability, dimensions and any associated terms.

619 Brickell's amenity story is built around its brand and its vertical organization. The tower is being developed with Nobu Hospitality, and Brickell.com notes that it will be the brand's first residential development in Miami. One project overview lists a pool, amenity terrace and gym among its features. The design review describes amenities distributed vertically through the tower, so a residence's proximity to amenity levels is something to verify on the stack diagram.

The sources reviewed for 619 Brickell do not describe a private marina, so any boating plans should be confirmed directly with the developer. For a buyer whose priority is a dock at the doorstep, that gap is material. For a buyer whose priority is hospitality-style service and a recognized brand, 619 Brickell's program may carry more weight.

UNA is the more intimate of the two. Florida YIMBY reported in April 2024 that the 579-foot, 47-story tower, designed by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill with Revuelta Architecture International as architect of record, contained 135 condominiums. The Real Deal reported in March 2018 that the residences would range from two to five bedrooms, with two penthouses carrying private pools. The project's official website in 2026 cites an exclusive collection of 129 residences and says only five remain, so buyers should confirm the current count and availability with the sales team.

619 Brickell is a taller, larger and more varied project. Foster + Partners is designing it in collaboration with Sieger Suarez Architects, and the developers are 13th Floor Investments and Key International. The official project site organizes the tower into five residential collections by level range, with plans that include two-bedroom residences with dens, larger three-bedroom homes and, in the uppermost collection, a five-bedroom-plus-den residence. The design review notes that story counts differ across published materials, which is a good reason to rely on the exact residence designation and the current offering documents.

In practice, UNA offers a smaller building with a finished product, while 619 Brickell offers a wider choice of plan types at a larger scale. A buyer who values a limited number of neighbors may lean toward UNA. A buyer who wants a particular layout, such as a one-bedroom or a mid-level two-bedroom with a den, will find a broader menu at 619 Brickell.

Because the two towers are at different stages, due diligence looks different for each. At UNA, the questions are about the finished home: current availability, the exact terrace exposure, marina terms and association operating rules. At 619 Brickell, the design review recommends assembling the current plan, stack diagram, terrace dimensions, view studies and amenity-adjacency information for each candidate residence, then confirming ceiling heights, completion timing, association costs, operating rules and available inventory in current offering documents.

The same review adds that the strongest choice at 619 Brickell is not automatically the highest available floor. It is the residence where outlook, layout, outdoor space and daily movement work together. That advice applies equally to UNA, where a lower-floor home with a well-oriented terrace may serve a buyer better than a higher one with a less useful exposure.

A practical approach is to shortlist two or three specific residences in each building and compare them room by room. Walk the UNA candidates in person, and request view studies and terrace dimensions for the 619 Brickell candidates. Wolsen Waterfront and Denis Smykalov can help organize that residence-by-residence comparison for buyers focused on Biscayne Bay.