70-Story Ora By Casa Tua Tower Announced For Brickell

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Plans have just been announced for a 70-story tower in Brickell called Ora.

Developer Edgardo DeFortuna told The Real Deal that the project will have around 460 residential units.

The tower will be built at at 1210 Brickell Avenue by developer Fortune International Group, with multiple restaurants, a market, and rooftop lounge by Casa Tua.

Short term rentals will be allowed.

 

Renowned South Florida Developer Fortune International Group Taps Exclusive Members’ Only Brand Casa Tuato Be Curator of its Newest Residential Development

 

The Luxury Development Serves as Casa Tua’s First-Ever Branded Residence and Will Redefine Miami’s Brickell Neighborhood

 

MIAMI, FLORIDA – DEC. 16, 2022 – Fortune International Group (Fortune), a real estate leader in developing, funding, construction management sales and marketing and led by the visionary founder, Edgardo Defortuna, today announced they are collaborating with hospitality brand, Casa Tua, to curate and program its newest high-rise, mixed-use development located at 1210 Brickell Avenue in Miami’s Brickell neighborhood.

The building, ORA is the first branded residence for Casa Tua, the renowned, heartfelt brand and exclusive members’ only club which has gathered friends in their properties in Miami and then Aspen and Paris for over two decades and soon to launch in The Surrey, A Corinthia Hotel in Manhattan 2023.

“ORA will serve as a unique residential development in a premier location, at the best corner in the Brickell neighborhood,” said Mr. Defortuna. “We look forward to working alongside the Casa Tua brand to curate a sophisticated experience that will create a community for its residents and Brickell. ORA will become the city’s most exciting amenity.”

ORA by Casa Tua will have (and not limited to):

●      Two new restaurant concepts by Casa Tua

●      A gourmet market by Casa Tua

●      A rooftop lounge – with resort-style offerings including a pool, sky lounge and bar; show kitchen, private event space and – curated by Casa Tua.

●      An abundance of nature and lush landscaping infused into the design of the building, including full floors of floating gardens overlooking the city views.

●      An entertainment lounge

●      Fitness and wellness center

“Since opening Casa Tua more than 20 years ago, my wife Leticia and I have always dreamt of applying the warmth and soul of Casa Tua to a pioneering mixed-use development, while boldly incorporating the most important feature that sets Miami apart as a city – its nature,” said Miky Grendene, Founder of Casa Tua. “There is no better partner for this ambitious vision than our friends at Fortune, Edgardo and Ana Cristina Defortuna. Together we will create a green oasis in the center of the city that will enable residents and guests to come together, celebrate life and be inspired by a new type of environment. At its heart will be a multi-faceted culinary hub delivering four distinct dining experiences true to Casa Tua’s signature style. ORA, meaning ‘now’ in Italian, is imagined for an evolving world, designed to honor simplicity, foster community and deepen human connection.”

Reservations for the short-term rental residences – which range from 500-square-foot, studios to 2,400-square foot, four-bedroom homes – will launch in January 2023. Pricing will start at $800,000.

 

 

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Anon
5 months ago

You won’t be able to drive 10 feet in Brickell in a few years

23
Jose
5 months ago

We don’t need cars. Use your feet my friend, it’s very good for health!

24
Anonymous
5 months ago

But you know all these people will still have cars and drive to other neighborhoods…

9
anon
5 months ago

They wont be able to

0
Anonymous
5 months ago

With a rich Metromover system, people won’t have to, unless they want to be seen in the car their driving.

5
Anonymous
5 months ago

Or people will still drive cars to get to Miami Beach, Midtown, Ft Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Coconut Grove or Coral Gables, and eventually cause too much gridlock in this part of Brickell…

The city and developers should focus on expanding new high-end development around underdeveloped Brickell not just making it super tall and dense in this small already new area, until metros catch up. That would be best prioritization IMO.

5
Anonymous
5 months ago

People from “Miami Beach, Midtown, Ft Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Coconut Grove or Coral Gables” need to find a place to park if they’re driving and coming to envoy the festivities of Brickell. People from those places already have somewhere to live and they’re not concerned with how tall a building is. Again, Brickell is “rich” in getting around on a Metromover system.

-8
Anon
5 months ago

Many people in Brickell do the reverse commute so it’s not really eliminating cars, it seems it will be bringing more cars to a super dense part of Brickell.

6
Anonymous
5 months ago

So you disagree with those people who complain about the amount of parking buildings in downtown

-3
DWNTWNR
5 months ago

The zoning capacity exists for development outside this area. You can go up to 24 stories down to the Rickenbacker and up to 24 stories west until 95. You can go up to 12 stories both sides of W Flagler St and SW 1 St up to 13th Ave and then up to 8 stories after that. You can go up to 24 and 36 stories from Miami Ave to the Bay up to the 195. If you propose upzoning everything beyond those areas, homeowners will loudly oppose it. There’s a lot of remaining capacity. Not much the public sector can do to make it more attractive for developers. The market is playing out naturally.

7
Anon
5 months ago

Agree with current zoning. Maybe for those underdeveloped areas, upgrading streets, adding sculptures/art, and landscaping and taking down above ground electric poles can bring attention for developers. I think a few 24 story buildings in those parts of Brickell can do the same for helping provide housing for incoming professionals but have the added benefit of improving QOL and look/connectivity of all Brickell.

11
Anon
5 months ago

That probably would help developers get more bang for their buck and market comparable prices in lower density areas. My logic says developers are gravitating to high dense areas to build more units and get more profit. If we beautify lose sense areas they would get same or similar profits to developers.

7
Anonymous
5 months ago

This is exciting for Brickell! It would help if the City simultaneously enhances the atmosphere in lower zoned parts in Brickell. Then, prospective developers of areas zoned at 24 stories can sell at higher price point, and net the same profit of a 70 story building in denser Brickell. This would help all development throughout Brickell, including this project, because it creates a more expansive luxury experience all through Brickell.

12
Anonymous
5 months ago

Like these changes.. it would also help HQs move to Brickell, because we need quality upper middle-class and higher-end workforce housing within walking distance to office towers.

3
DWNTWNR
5 months ago

Redoing the streets or other ROW improvements wouldn’t be done because they would be destroyed during construction of the parcels fronting the street. Usually the developers are required to upgrade the ROW that they front.

-8
Name*
5 months ago

Well there should be a standard ROW that the public and city put into place!! Thats common in any downtown, Look at City Place in West Palm, all of Coral Gables around Miracle Mile, or Midtown Miami? those are all separate buildings and there’s one central cohesive street/sidewalk, well lit and brings in new development. It can be replaced in five years or updated.

9
Anonymous Name*
5 months ago

That’s not a reason to build something. There’s lots of low cost temporary (aka 5 year life space) improvements that can drive up needed development here and be replaced and enhanced as new development steps in.

1
Anonymous Name*
5 months ago

** the inevitable replacement of a ROW is not a reason to refuse public improvements now. There are low cost temporary improvements, with a 5 year life span, that can drive up needed development here, attract higher quality projects, and be replaced or enhanced over time.

9
Brickell / City of Miami Partnership Proposal
5 months ago

That’s problem, are we going to wait for a developer who can afford to create a ROW, when it’s zoned low in this part of Brickell, and the city isn’t doing an adequate job on the public facing area?

We can be waiting for ages and worst a ghetto “blight” could start and ruin all Brickell. Keep zoning as is, let’s use tax money to create unique and mesmerizing pedestrian experiences 🚴‍♂️🏃🧑‍🦽🌴🏙 so high end development can be built in potentially vulnerable parts of Brickell.

11
DWNTWNR
5 months ago

Y’all are pretty silly for downvoting a fact. Don’t shoot the messenger. Also, this practice is rooted in the police power of the government and property rights laws. It’s extremely reasonable for a municipal government to pass on spending millions of dollars paving a corridor just for developers to come in one by one destroying what was just built so they can take a lane of traffic for staging their heavy machinery. If any of y’all drive through Downtown, Brickell, or Wynwood, you’ll see this practice everywhere. Wouldn’t you be upset if your tax dollars were spent on capital improvements that were destroyed within a year?

0
MM305
5 months ago

Its actually unnatural to have this many units concentrated in a single area next to an area with so little density and height beside it. The disparity between Little Havana Next to Jose Marti Park and Brickell is scary. People applaud it, but the natural flow of development should be westward, not squeezing it in by making the remaining parcels in Brickell outrageous towers with nothing but super high-end housing. The missing middle-income housing is because special interests thwart upzoning and diversity of housing style and class

13
Anonymous
5 months ago

Agree 💯 the focus on a narrow part of Brickell is the opposite of what DDA was designed to do (protect downtown from becoming a ghetto / “blithe”). Brickell, Riverside and Little Havana should be rejuvenated in tandem, starting with the common public areas.

Love central Brickell’s Manhattan like vibe, but concerned that surrounding areas could become too expensive to develop under current zoning snd neighboring densification. It may need attention and neighborhood facelift soon, so it can be developed in tandem, and keep Brickell nice.

Look at WPB, it’s like 5x the size of Brickell and all areas are kept nice.

12
Checo
5 months ago

I think you mean, “blight” not blithe.

4
Thanks Checo
5 months ago

Thanks Checo! Yes, “Blight” Urban decay consisting of the deterioration of part of a town or city due to ageing, neglect, and lack of financial support for maintenance.

It’s not a word I use often, but I learned that Brickell and urban cores need help preventing it. If we focus on narrow areas, the blight grows and creeps in.

9
DWNTWNR
5 months ago

Missing middle housing is because developers aren’t enticed by T3-O and T4 west of Downtown and Brickell. It’s because the more units you develop, but the quicker you can turn a profit and pay off your construction loans or commercial mortgages. If you upzone west of Downtown and Brickell, it would lose the ability to become the much needed missing middle housing. Construction is expensive and the larger the building, the more expensive the product, and by nature the units have to be. Bid rent theory also plays into affordability, but only to the cost of the land value. It’s a complex problem.

6
Name*
5 months ago

It’s not only a matter of more units—it’s a matter of quality!

It seems the city may have inadvertently neglected SW 2nd Avenue and common space!

It just got a replace but that’s not enough. I saw a new sculpture garden on SW1sr so interest is there… It need a visionary design. Look at parts of Florida zoned even lower, like West Palm Beach and Coral Gables, where condos sell for more than those in Brickell. This could be high-end luxury boutique buildings and retail given its about block away from BCC, Brickell Village, and Underline.

This can be easily turned around with new tax revenues acquired during the real estate boom which will pay back the city when property values sky rocket more.

6
Checo
5 months ago

“This can be easily turned around with new tax revenues acquired during the real estate boom which will pay back the city when property values sky rocket more.”
Do you mean that an area should be designated on maps, and a baseline property value should be established? Then, any property value increase above that baseline could be directed right back into the boundaries of those neighborhoods (instead of being distributed throughout the county) so that the neighborhoods could be improved.

5
Thanks Checo
5 months ago

I’d have to study this more, but I think that property taxes acquired from certain neighborhoods should go into renovating and maintaining those neighborhoods. It seems some buyers are spending a lot of money in parts of Brickell and not getting the needed support to maintain the public and common parts of the city, which could lead to “blight” and broader economic consequences.

8
Urban Planning Philosophy
5 months ago

The issue is that when CRA zones are successful, the neighborhood naturally expands and spawns new development. The natural zone of expansion looks, feels and even uses the same name. It’s like when a family has babies 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦The family must embrace and feed their babies well to develop into representative examples of that family.

4
Public Paul A.C.
5 months ago

Fund, maintain and protect surrounding areas outside the CRAs, as borders expand, otherwise it just creates ghetto areas. These CRAs need to be phased into neighboring areas and not meant to be a hard border, full stop, neglect all around. That’s the most important part to maintain. You need to be careful what surrounds your skin and protect the outer parts of your body, because what’s outside your body seeps in inevitably.

3
Miami Res
5 months ago

Overtown is affordable and it’s a short train ride to Brickell. The city should make Brickell ultra nice so Miami has a prestigious downtown and improves quality of life for all Miamians.

6
Brickell Middle
5 months ago

Developers seem very enticed by the 24 story zoned Brickell zone, but the City needs to accelerate and confirm that interest by updating the public areas, and become a full high-end area.

Developers aren’t yet enticed by T3 and T4 for middle housing west of Brickell, because there’s too wide of a gap between the narrow section of ultra luxury housing along Miami Ave and the lower income housing west of I95.

If the City improves the area immediately East of I95, higher end quality development will flourish here and naturally more middle housing will flourish just east of I95, connected by Jose Martí Park.

If not, blight backs up the other way and goes into all Brickell, and sadly people in the middle who work in Brickell would have no place to live.

3
MM305
5 months ago

DWNTWNR, you’re delusional and making it harder for the missing middle to exist. Of course, developers don’t like T4-R zoning on Jose Marti Park, you can only build 4 units per parcel maybe 6 with affordable housing and only three floors in height, the old buildings have more height and density than what you can build now and there is NO COMMERCIAL ZONING! You have nearly unlimited zoning directly beside it. Your answer is to develop everything around the park first, then put the missing middle in last based on what the neighborhood needs. Again delusional. That’s not how development works and that’s not organic. All along 8th street they’re putting up box construction that is B/C-class. If more is built there is more supply and competition to lower prices. Right now there is no supply to counter balance inflation in Miami and South Florida

4
Brick305
5 months ago

You’re so right MM305! We have a consensus around this as far as I see!

I don’t know who or why anyone would oppose this natural expansion. It doesn’t take up Little Havana. Rather, it gives the Cuban community more places to walk, improving QOL. Up the zoning around Jose Marti Park, create a quality sister development to Brickell, and simultaneously build luxury middle class to ultra luxury boutique retail and residential in the 24 zoned area east of I95 in Brickell, since it is more residential with schools and parks going in now.

The longer this part of Brickell and Riverside go neglected and ignored by the City, HOAs, and developers, the more the “blight” grows within Brickell and crime grows, and ultra luxury developments sit vacant on Miami Ave and Brickell Ave, like NYC in the 80s or the CBD ten years ago.

5
DWNTWNR
5 months ago

Hombre, Middle Housing has a definition. It’s limited in stories and units. If you upzone it, it no longer qualifies as Middle Housing. What I’m saying is that Middle Housing has its natural place along the bid rent curve/line. Don’t call me delusional when it’s clear you don’t know about economics and land use development.

-1
You’re Hired
5 months ago

You’re right on the money 💵

2
Brickell Middle
5 months ago

It seems there’s a a new special interest in Brickell – the upper middle.

Maybe they were once at the top of the market. People could easily find themselves here if they spend beyond their means. Also, people in the lower middle can elevate themselves here if they work hard and save.

This should be an aspirational place to live and work in Brickell, a place to be proud to call home and to contribute to Miami…💡 Hope the city works on improving public-facing middle Brickell.

5
Public Paul A.C.
5 months ago

How is it playing our naturally if the zoning is influencing the market? I don’t think zoning is off, but there needs to be quality and public facing renovations if the city is going to restrict height in same connected area.

2
Name*
5 months ago

Observation: There’s not a shortage of housing, per se, there’s a shortage of quality connected urban planned neighborhood blocks.

1
Anonymous
5 months ago

Name* and Paul, there is a housing shortage and more public-facing renovations and planning doesn’t change that.

-3
Anonymous
5 months ago

Anonymous, collectively we can to lay foundation for development and investment in housing. The housing crisis would benefit from public-facing projects because they plant the seed to draw in housing developments. Create the canvas, and the picture will be painted with beautiful housing. The city can do this – I’ve seen all the quality projects like the Heart being put into place. Don’t feel pressure or take this negatively, the City is doing so much but this is an area to highlight. One step at a time. Miami is doing amazing work. Thanks!

1
Anonymous
5 months ago

“Rich” Metromover system is an oxymoron.

4
Anonymous
5 months ago

I don’t understand.. what’s your complaint about it?

-2
Anonymous
5 months ago

Except Metromover does very little to take cars off the road.

1
Anonymous
5 months ago

Well, if you don’t wanna take it, stay off of it then.

-2
Anonymous
5 months ago

lil’prick

-2
Anonymous
5 months ago

“Short term rentals will be allowed.” In other words it will be a hotel?

12
DWNTWNR
5 months ago

Worse, an Airbnb.

3
Anonymous
5 months ago

With 1428 Brickell, 1210 Brickell, 888 Brickell, One Brickell City Centre, and One Brickell, Brickell Avenue will become the Wall Street of the south. The traffic congestion will be another matter for a future day.

5
Anonymous
5 months ago

It already is Wall St South, focus on developing more avenues in Brickell. This is already nice and there! Too much over development, could make or break it all.

11
MINDSET
5 months ago

Nothing is truly “overbuilt,” that’s just an opinion. It all depends on how a place is built and what is built in it.

4
Anonymous
5 months ago

^over development on one avenue without, incentivizing renovations to neighboring avenues.

4
Anonymous
5 months ago

“over development on one avenue without, incentivizing renovations to neighboring avenues”

Renovations and maintenance of streets is the city’s job which taxpayers pay for.

2
Brickell Public
5 months ago

Exactly, but it appears the city is not doing enough to spur new development in lower zoned areas in Brickell, where the land costs a fortune 💰 There are diamond properties across Brickell waiting to be mined, and the City should help brush up the surface so developers can see the sparkle 💎 💎💎 If the City did so, it would catalyze new housing in lower zoned parts of Brickell. A lot of tax money is being collected from owners here, so funds should be available 🥁

7
Anonymous
5 months ago

“We are the 6th Borough.”

“The most southern part of Manhattan.”

OYE!

0
Anonymous
5 months ago

Great just what brickell needs, more short term rentals smh. This should have been mixed use apartments/condos and office with ground floor retail

5
Anon
5 months ago

There are still other parts of Brickell that can be built up as high end full time residential areas and not so touristic where bars and clubs line the street.

8
Anonymous
5 months ago

Geezus.. can I spend my money the way I see fit?

I mean, no one is telling you how to spend yours.. right?

-1
Anonymous
5 months ago

Not opposing development, I love it. Referring to public tax payer money that can be used to improve street lighting, aesthetic, sidewalks landscaping etc., and to promote/ incentivize development in under utilized parts of Brickell. This could prevent bad areas from developing in Brickell neighborhood.

8
Anonymous
5 months ago

Geezus.. will people like you stop telling us what YOU think will prevent this or that?

-5
Anonymous
5 months ago

If people who live and own property in Brickell don’t share, then who will advise developers and the City of this helpful valuable insight. People who haven’t stepped foot here or have no long term interest in successfully maintaining the neighborhood?

6
Checo
5 months ago

A great deal of property tax revenue collected in the Brickell neighborhood is reinvested in the neighborhood. It is called a TIF, and this TIF was established in the late 1960’s and remains today.

4
Standup Guy
5 months ago

The CRA zone may not yet cover all Brickell and provide TIF funding where needed to prevent blight and better-quality residential neighborhoods in Brickell. Maybe someone can apply for an expanded or new CRA zone in 2023, new and beautiful developments are being built here.

5
Anonymous
5 months ago

Casa Tua? Tua lives in Davie.

4
Ted Lasso
5 months ago

If I recall correctly, Fortune acquired the entire site back in the mid-2000’s, which included the office building and parking garage. They then converted the office building to condos, sold them off, but held on to the parking garage for Future development, which is the site of this tower. Savvy move on their part. But now where will tenants of the adjacent office building park?

3
Anonymous
5 months ago

And WOW! Starting prices for a 500 sq foot studios are OVER $1500 a sq foot. Impressive ! Well let’s see. Seems like an Uber luxurious building is planned. Seems that Fortune is & has been involved with developing all that immediate area. SLS BRICKELL, CIPRIANI. Now 1210 BRICKELL. I think Fortune will soon go for the KILL $$$, with it’s almost full square block property & headquarters on Brickell & 13th street. My guess….Fortune & CITADEL will do something amazing together. Perhaps CITADEL HOTEL & RESIDENCES. 😉

1
Checo
5 months ago

Fortune is usually involved as a Sales & Marketing company for other developer’s projects. And sometimes developer. The Fortune Developments are always great, and they are an excellent company and family.

1
Anonymous
5 months ago

There is literally a parking Garage across the street.

-1
Pat
5 months ago

That is all true.
Anyone who has ever wondered why the prices for office/condos were cheap in 1200 Brickell relative to other offerings are going to find out the hard way.
They will have to find an alternative parking spot and work on a construction site for a few years.

1
Anonymous
5 months ago

Having a convenient parking spot is one of the top must factors for new residents. Having to walk or connect to a neighboring parking lot is a non starter for many buyers of condos.

4
Checo
5 months ago

It is the owners/tenants of the Office Condos who will lose parking during the construction of the Residential Condos.
Once the Residential Condos and new parking pedestal is constructed, the Office Tenants/Owners are sure to be able to rent parking spaces again.

1
Namers
5 months ago

Looks like there’s a scale model of the building in the picture.

1
duh
5 months ago

Tower after tower after tower proposed for Brickell and still not a damn thing to be done about the fact that a common rainstorm puts it a foot and a half underwater.

0
Next Gen
5 months ago

SW 2nd Ave is significantly elevated. If you look toward the Underline, you can notice a fairly significant incline. I think ideal spot for new large scale development cohesive planned project like Midtown Miami. If incoming patrons feel more inclined to park here to start the Brickell visit, it could alleviate traffic in current high dense areas in Brickell.

10
Next Gen
5 months ago

Just like when a surgeon treats a blocked artery, Brickell could benefit from a “bypass” development project.

9
Checo
5 months ago

That is not true.

2
Anon
5 months ago

So much is being done, there’s a documentary online on multi-tier plan. Only saw flooding in Brickell once in past few years during a tropical storm, but saw more severe flooding in NYC subways.

3
Anonymous
5 months ago

There’s so much land to redevelop in Brickell, not sure why we are going so tall with residential in an already developed area. This area already feels to dense. Even the 40-50 story buildings can feel poorly managed and impersonal as residences. Always happy to see newer buildings and housing but can’t it be half office space or serve another purpose, or be 20 stories lower?

-1
Original
5 months ago

“There’s so much land to redevelop in Brickell, not sure why we are going so tall with residential”

The developer or developers chose to build tall, not “WE.” Besides, if some people prefer to live in a tall building, who am I or you to complain?

-1
DWNTWNR
5 months ago

Because property owners and bankers did their pro forma and know what’s profitable.

-1
Checo
5 months ago

Who is “we”?
The owner of this property has decided to build this property in this manner. If you hurry up and make a solid offer to purchase, I’m sure they will sell it to you, then you can build a little office building or whatever you see fit.

-2
Anonymous
5 months ago

The collective we , primarily those who have an interest in improving Brickell and making it sustainably profitable and best place to work and live for the next generation.

3
Anonymous
5 months ago

Collective we? no, that doesn’t cut it.

-2
Checo
5 months ago

Brickell is great, and I have lived and worked there for many decades. My young child (the next generation) loves Brickell too….but my child doesn’t constantly cry about what other people should do with their property.

3
Anonymous
5 months ago

You’re right. No more crying. More building and fixing up what’s there!

3
Anonymous
5 months ago

About my above comment, the height and density is fine for this area, I am just hoping overall and surrounding neighborhood develops/maintains nicely.

6
Anonymous
5 months ago

Also love the sound of the name Ora!

4
Anonymous
5 months ago

sorry but if it becomes a misery to drive a “car”

people will move to Gables or S Miami or (blah) S Beach
right now is pretty tough.
I need to use MetroRail

-1
Anonymous
5 months ago

Shushhhh… people are always moving to Coral Gables, South Miami, or South Beach anyway!

Man I’m telling you, these people with their “Scare Tactics” really get on your nerves.

0