South Florida New Construction · Brickell · Smart Brickell Tower
This is not one condominium, it is three.
By Josh Stein · Florida license SL3057661 · Updated 25 September 2026
Verified 24 September 2026Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser, Habitat Group, Florida YIMBY +8 more11 sources
The Smart Brickell towers and their landscaped podium
Smart Brickell seen from street level through the trees
The Smart Brickell complex seen from the street
The Smart Brickell complex seen from the north
The facade of Smart Brickell at street level
Smart Brickell and its podium seen from the air
A finished residence at Smart Brickell
A finished residence at Smart Brickell
A finished residence at Smart Brickell
A finished residence at Smart Brickell
A finished residence at Smart Brickell
A finished residence at Smart Brickell
Key Takeaways
- This is not one condominium, it is three — the county records SMART BRICKELL LODGING 1 CONDO, SMART BRICKELL CONDO and SMART BRICKELL COMMERCIAL 1 CONDO as separate air-rights declarations stacked in one tower.
- 50 lodging units on floors 2 to 7, 50 residential homes from floor 11 — every lodging folio is classified HOTEL OR MOTEL : CONDOMINIUM and every residential folio RESIDENTIAL : CONDOMINIUM – RESIDENTIAL. The county assesses them as different property classes.
- Completed in 2023, not pre-construction — Habitat Group lists Smart Brickell Tower I under completed projects with delivery in 2023, the county records year built 2023 on all 100 homes, and 99 of the 100 have a first deed dated 2023, 93 of them on 31 August 2023 (Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser, 24 September 2026). The 71-unit figure comes from a 2021 plan for a later tower (see below).
- Developer: Habitat Group — Tower I is 50 condos and 50 hotel residences on the developer’s own count, which matches the 50 + 50 folios the county holds. The county’s address index puts the lodging declaration at 229 SW 9 ST and the residential and commercial declarations at 239 SW 9 ST.
- On the same day, the two halves sold 75% apart per square foot — 31 August 2023: lodging units at a median $1,070 per square foot, residential units in the same tower at $610.
- Since then the two halves have behaved in opposite directions — nine residential homes resold at gains of 49% to 93%. Four lodging units resold, two of them below what they cost in 2023.
- “Approved to rent through Airbnb” is the developer’s wording — Habitat Group’s Smart Brickell website says the units are approved to rent through Airbnb and other platforms (archived 20 September 2024). The county record cannot show that for every unit, and a use classification is not a permit. What to check instead is set out below.
Smart Brickell Tower, by the numbers
Developer: Habitat Group · Architect: HAC Architects · Tower I of the Smart Brickell complex; residences on floors 11 to 23 · Median qualified price on 31 August 2023: $455,000 for lodging units, $341,000 for residences (Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser, retrieved 24 September 2026).
229 and 239 SW 9th Street, Miami, Florida 33130 | Neighborhood: Brickell
I pulled the county record for this building and found something worth writing up: Smart Brickell Tower I is not one condominium. It is three, stacked vertically in a single tower, and they are legally separate property. The developer, Habitat Group, lists the tower as completed, with delivery in 2023 (Habitat Group project page, read 24 September 2026).
The marketing around this building leans on short-term rentals. Habitat Group’s website says the units are “approved to rent through Airbnb and other platforms” (archived 20 September 2024). Earlier press reports gave different numbers for the same idea: owners could rent 24 times a year (The Real Deal, 29 November 2018) or up to 50 times per calendar year (Florida YIMBY, 9 May 2021). Those are marketing statements, and I have not found a source that says why they differ. The county record shows something narrower: fifty lodging units classified as hotel or motel condominium, and fifty residences that are not. The difference between the two halves is the point of this page.
One tower, three separate condominiums
The Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser records three declarations over the same land — a portion of lots 16 and 17 and the west 10 feet of lot 18, block 58, City of Miami South — each one an air-rights condominium covering a different band of floors of “Twr 1” in the county’s own legal descriptions (retrieved 24 September 2026):
| Declaration | Recorded at | Folios | County classification |
|---|---|---|---|
| SMART BRICKELL LODGING 1 CONDO | OR 33863-2168 | 50 | HOTEL OR MOTEL : CONDOMINIUM |
| SMART BRICKELL CONDO | OR 33863-2315 | 50 | RESIDENTIAL : CONDOMINIUM – RESIDENTIAL |
| SMART BRICKELL COMMERCIAL 1 CONDO | OR 33949-3155 | 25 | STORE : CONDOMINIUM – COMMERCIAL |
The lodging units occupy floors 2 through 7. The residences run from floor 11 to 23 (the county’s legal descriptions read “flrs 2 thru 7” and “flrs 11 thru 23”, and the unit numbering has no 13th floor). The lodging declaration’s undivided shares of the common elements sum to exactly 100.0000% across its 50 folios. Lodging units run 384 to 527 square feet. The residences run 494 to 1,064 square feet, 41 of them one-bedroom and 9 two-bedroom by the county’s bedroom count.
Worth knowing if you go looking yourself: the county’s address index carries the lodging declaration at 229 SW 9 ST and the residential and commercial declarations at 239 SW 9 ST (street-level index, retrieved 24 September 2026). A house-number search on 229 returns only the 50 lodging folios, so the fifty residences can be missed by anyone checking the building the obvious way. Habitat Group’s Tower I page gives 239 SW 9th Street, and its earlier website gave 229 (archived 20 September 2024). I have not found a source that says why two numbers are used.
Tower I is the built one. Habitat Group lists Smart Brickell Tower I under completed projects, with 50 condos and 50 hotel residences and delivery in 2023 (project page and portfolio, read 24 September 2026). Its portfolio lists three Smart Brickell projects. Tower II (258 SW 9th Street, also 50 condos and 50 hotel residences) is listed as a current project; Floridian Development reported on 22 July 2025 that the developer was “finalizing construction” on the second tower. The third, Smart Brickell Luxe (885 SW 3rd Avenue, 53 condos and 78 hotel residences), was reported by Florida YIMBY on 27 October 2025 to have vertical construction under way. The figure of 71 units comes from a December 2021 plan for the third tower — 71 condos plus 42 short-term lodging units at 267 SW 9th Street (South Florida Business Journal, 22 December 2021, reposted by Habitat Group) — which Habitat Group’s current pages do not list. I have not found a source dating the completion of Tower II or Luxe. This page is about Tower I, which is finished and closed.
Storeys: Florida YIMBY (9 May 2021) described a 25-storey complex, The Real Deal (29 November 2018) said 25 storeys for the second building, and the county describes the commercial declaration as running from floor 1 to the 25th floor while the residential declaration covers floors 11 to 23. The South Florida Business Journal (22 December 2021) reported 23-storey towers. I have not found a source that reconciles 23 and 25; the band above uses 25.
Building team, as listed by Habitat Group for Tower I: developer and general contractor Habitat Group, architect HAC Architects, design consultant Gensler and, for interiors, a different firm from the Arquitectonica Interiors named in 2021 (project page, read 24 September 2026). While the tower was under construction, Florida YIMBY (9 May 2021) named HAC Architects and Urbanists as design architect, Gensler as architect of record, Arquitectonica Interiors for interiors and Beauchamp Construction as general contractor. I have not found a source that explains the differences.
The tower
Smart Brickell is in the county’s Brickell West neighbourhood, and its podium rises eight storeys before the first set-back (Florida YIMBY, 9 May 2021). The photographs below are of the finished building rather than renderings of it.
The lodging half, and what it has done since
The county records a first deed in 2023 for all fifty lodging units: 46 of them on 31 August 2023 and four more on 31 October 2023. Two of those deeds, one on each date, are flagged unqualified as transfers between affiliated parties, which leaves 48 qualified sales (45 on 31 August, three on 31 October). The median qualified price was $455,000 at $1,070 per square foot.
Qualified sales by year on the county record (2023 is the first sales; 2024 onward are resales):
| Year | Qualified sales | Median price | Median $/sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 48 | $455,000 | $1,070 |
| 2024 | 1 | $495,000 | $1,184 |
| 2025 | 3 | $475,000 | $1,073 |
| 2026 to 24 September | 0 | — | — |
Four qualified resales out of fifty units, recorded between March 2024 and December 2025, and none in 2026 as of 24 September. Because every one of the four is a round trip on a unit that closed in August 2023, I can price them exactly rather than infer a trend. Three other lodging deeds recorded in 2024, at $0 to $100, are flagged unqualified (the county’s reason: “Corrective, tax or QCD; min consideration”) and are excluded.
| Unit | Size | 2023 closing | Resale | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 604 | 466 sq ft | $455,000 | $500,000 · Jan 2025 | +9.9% |
| 602 | 418 sq ft | $455,000 | $495,000 · Mar 2024 | +8.8% |
| 209 | 433 sq ft | $495,000 | $475,000 · Dec 2025 | −4.0% |
| 708 | 527 sq ft | $520,000 | $450,000 · May 2025 | −13.5% |
Two up, two down, before any selling cost. Four transactions is far too thin to call a direction and I am not going to pretend otherwise. What it does show is that qualified resales have been rare since the August 2023 closings; it does not show what a lodging unit would sell for today.
The 2026 assessed values sit at a median $384,560, totalling $19,275,740 across the fifty lodging folios — roughly $878 per square foot of assessed value, against a median $1,070 per square foot on the 2023 qualified closings.
Why did the two halves sell 75% apart?
Here is the number that stopped me. On 31 August 2023, both declarations closed on the same day, in the same tower — the lodging units at a median $1,070 per square foot and the residences at a median $610. Forty-seven residential homes closed that day, all qualified sales, at a median of $341,000; 45 lodging units closed at a qualified median of $455,000.
Since then the two halves have moved differently. Nine residences have a qualified resale on the county record, and every one is well above its 31 August 2023 price:
| Unit | Size | 31 Aug 2023 | Resale | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1204 | 494 sq ft | $299,900 | $580,000 · 22 Sep 2023 | +93.4% |
| 1604 | 494 sq ft | $304,900 | $540,000 · Mar 2024 | +77.1% |
| 1104 | 494 sq ft | $298,900 | $495,000 · Feb 2024 | +65.6% |
| 2101 | 571 sq ft | $330,200 | $535,000 · Mar 2024 | +62.0% |
| 2102 | 571 sq ft | $330,900 | $535,000 · Mar 2024 | +61.7% |
| 1704 | 494 sq ft | $314,900 | $485,000 · Sep 2025 | +54.0% |
| 2304 | 743 sq ft | $487,500 | $750,000 · Nov 2025 | +53.8% |
| 1702 | 571 sq ft | $339,900 | $520,000 · Dec 2023 | +53.0% |
| 2003 | 809 sq ft | $488,900 | $730,000 · Apr 2026 | +49.3% |
A 93% gain in twenty-two days is not something I can explain from the record. Unit 1204 closed at $299,900 on 31 August 2023 and the county shows a resale at $580,000 on 22 September 2023.
The county record does not say why the 31 August 2023 residential prices sit where they do against the resales, and I have not found a source that does. Every deed in the table above is flagged qualified by the county. Six further residential deeds — four recorded at $100, and two on 15 July 2026 for units 1104 and 1604 at $297,000 and $349,500 — are flagged unqualified (the county’s reason: “Corrective, tax or QCD; min consideration”) and are excluded from every figure on this page. The three most recent qualified residential resales are $982 per square foot (September 2025), $1,009 (November 2025) and $902 (April 2026). That is three sales: a range, not a trend. I would not use a percentage gain measured from a 31 August 2023 price as an appreciation figure, because I cannot account for that starting point.
Two of the fifty residences deserve a footnote. Units 1801 and 1901 are 907 square feet each and carry the undivided common-element share of a 571 square foot home (1.83542%, the same as the 571 square foot units). The residential declaration’s shares as carried on the county roll sum to 97.8398%, not 100%, a shortfall of 2.1602%. I have not found a source that says why, and I publish no share-derived figure for those two homes. The developer’s own count of 50 condos and 50 hotel residences matches the 50 + 50 folios the county holds (Habitat Group, read 24 September 2026).
The residences
These are photographs of completed, furnished units — which is itself a fact about where this building stands, and worth holding beside the classification question below.
What the classification does and does not establish
Habitat Group’s website says the units are “approved to rent through Airbnb and other platforms” (archived 20 September 2024). Let me be precise about what the public record does and does not show, because this is the whole reason people search for this building.
What the record shows: the fifty lodging units are recorded under a declaration with the word LODGING in its name and are classified by the county as HOTEL OR MOTEL : CONDOMINIUM, every one of them (retrieved 24 September 2026). The Real Deal was already describing the project as a condo-hotel complex with flexible short-term rental options in November 2018 (29 November 2018).
What is not established: a Department of Revenue use code is an assessment classification, not a permit and not a licence. It does not by itself grant any owner the right to rent by the night, and it says nothing about the fifty residential homes above floor 11, which the county classifies as residential condominium property under a different declaration with different documents. “Smart Brickell allows Airbnb” is not a statement the county record supports for the whole building.
Which rules apply to any one unit is set out in the recorded declaration for the condominium the unit sits under and in the offering documents; confirm it there. Related guides on this site: short-term rentals in Miami condos, Miami condos and short-term rentals and when a condo becomes a hotel.
The amenity level
At the November 2018 launch of the second tower, The Real Deal reported the planned amenities as an amenity deck with a terrace, resort-style pools, a fitness center, a ground-floor cafe, a rooftop lounge bar and a business center. I have not found a source that lists what was delivered.
What I would verify here
Which condominium your unit is actually in. Ask for the folio number and read the declaration named in it. A lodging unit and a residence in this tower are different products with different documents and, on the qualified resales the county has recorded so far, different resale records. The floor bands are in the county’s legal descriptions (lodging floors 2 to 7, residences floors 11 to 23), but confirm from the folio, not from a listing.
The operating agreement on the lodging side. If you are buying one of the fifty lodging units, find out who operates them, what share of revenue you keep, whether you can use the unit yourself and for how long, and what happens if the operator changes. Those terms are in the operating agreement and the recorded documents, not in the county’s use code.
The 2023 price on the unit you are shown. Given the divergence above, I would not build a comparable on a 31 August 2023 residential closing alone. Ask for the county-recorded resales as well: the three most recent qualified residential resales are $902 to $1,009 per square foot (September 2025, November 2025, April 2026).
How shared costs are split between the three condominiums. A tower with a lodging declaration, a residential declaration and a commercial declaration has shared-facility costs to apportion between them. Ask how they are split and who votes on decisions that affect each share, and read the answer in the recorded documents.
Who this suits. A buyer who specifically wants a small, lodging-classified Brickell unit, understands they are buying an income position rather than a home, and can hold it. The county shows four qualified lodging resales between March 2024 and December 2025. Who it suits badly: anyone who needs liquidity, anyone assuming the residential homes carry the lodging rules, and anyone relying on a percentage gain measured from an August 2023 closing price. And if you own here and are thinking of selling, the county shows nine qualified residential resales and four qualified lodging resales since August 2023; which of the two you are in matters for how you price it, and they are not the same building.
Smart Brickell — Frequently Asked Questions
Does Smart Brickell allow Airbnb?
Habitat Group’s Smart Brickell website says the units are approved to rent through Airbnb and other platforms (archived 20 September 2024). On the county record, the fifty lodging units on floors 2 to 7 sit under a declaration named SMART BRICKELL LODGING 1 CONDO and every one is classified as HOTEL OR MOTEL : CONDOMINIUM. But a use code is an assessment classification, not a permit, and the fifty residences on floors 11 to 23 sit under a different declaration classified as residential condominium. “Smart Brickell allows Airbnb” is not a statement the county record supports for the whole building; confirm in the recorded declaration and the offering documents which rules apply to your unit.
How many units does Smart Brickell have?
Tower I holds 100 homes: 50 lodging units on floors 2 to 7 and 50 residences on floors 11 to 23 per the county, plus a separate commercial condominium. Habitat Group lists it as 50 condos and 50 hotel residences. The figure of 71 units comes from a December 2021 plan for a third tower (71 condos plus 42 short-term lodging units); Habitat Group’s current pages list a different third building, Smart Brickell Luxe, with 53 condos and 78 hotel residences.
Is Smart Brickell still pre-construction?
Tower I is not. Habitat Group lists it under completed projects with delivery in 2023, the county records year built 2023 on all 100 homes, and 99 of the 100 have a first deed dated 2023, 93 of them on 31 August 2023. Habitat Group lists Tower II and Smart Brickell Luxe separately as current projects; Florida YIMBY reported vertical construction under way at Luxe on 27 October 2025.
Why did the lodging units and the residences sell at such different prices?
On 31 August 2023 the lodging units closed at a median $1,070 per square foot (45 qualified sales) and the residences at $610 (47 qualified sales) — in the same tower on the same day. Nine residences then had qualified resales at gains of 49% to 93% over their 2023 price, one of them 93% in twenty-two days. The county record does not say why the two sets of 2023 prices differ or why the resales sit so far above the residential 2023 prices, and I have not found a source that does.
What do the residences actually resell for?
The three most recent qualified resales are $982 per square foot (September 2025), $1,009 (November 2025) and $902 (April 2026). That is three sales, a range rather than a trend. I would not quote a percentage gain measured from a 31 August 2023 closing price.
How liquid are the lodging units?
Thinly traded. Four of the fifty have a qualified resale on the county record, recorded between March 2024 and December 2025, and there were none in 2026 as of 24 September 2026. Two sold above their 2023 price and two below, the largest drop −13.5% before selling costs. Four sales is too few to call a direction.
Why does a county search only show 50 units?
Because the county’s address index carries the lodging declaration at 229 SW 9 ST and the residential and commercial declarations at 239 SW 9 ST, and a search on 229 returns only the lodging declaration. The fifty residences sit in a separate air-rights condominium under its own folio series.
Sources and further reading
- Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser — Property Search (folios 01-4138-176, 01-4138-177 and 01-4138-178: 100 lodging and residential folios, 25 commercial folios and the three reference folios; legal descriptions, year built 2023, sales, assessments and address index, retrieved 24 September 2026)miamidadepa.gov
- Habitat Group — Smart Brickell Tower I project page (completed; 50 condos and 50 hotel residences; delivery 2023; architect HAC Architects; 239 SW 9th Street; read 24 September 2026)habitatgroup.com
- Habitat Group — portfolio (Tower I under completed projects; Tower II and Smart Brickell Luxe under current projects; read 24 September 2026)habitatgroup.com
- Habitat Group — Smart Brickell Tower II project page (258 SW 9th Street; 50 condos and 50 hotel residences; listed as a current project; read 24 September 2026)habitatgroup.com
- Habitat Group — Smart Brickell Luxe project page (885 SW 3rd Avenue; 53 condos and 78 hotel residences; architect Ginard Studio; a later building, not Tower I; read 24 September 2026)habitatgroup.com
- Smart Brickell official website — Units page as archived by the Wayback Machine on 20 September 2024 (Tower 1 delivery Q3 2023; approved to rent through Airbnb and other platforms; 229 SW 9th Street 33130; the live site returned an error on 24 September 2026)web.archive.org
- South Florida Business Journal — Smart Brickell developer makes changes to third tower as sales launch, 22 December 2021, reposted by Habitat Group (23-storey towers; third-tower plan of 71 condos plus 42 lodging units)habitatgroup.com
- The Real Deal — Habitat Group launches second phase of Brickell condo project, 29 November 2018 (three buildings; 50 hotel rooms and 50 condos per tower; rent 24 times a year; planned amenities)therealdeal.com
- Florida YIMBY — Tower One’s superstructure reaches parapet on Smart Brickell at 239 SW 9th Street, 9 May 2021 (25 storeys; 100 units; HAC Architects and Urbanists; Gensler; Airbnb up to 50 times a year)floridayimby.com
- Florida YIMBY — Ginard Studio’s Smart Brickell Luxe shows signs of vertical construction at 885 SW 3rd Avenue, 27 October 2025 (third and final tower; 53 condominiums and 78 condo-hotel residences)floridayimby.com
- Floridian Development — The Habitat Group advances through permitting for 4 of their Brickell projects, 22 July 2025 (finalizing construction on Smart Brickell’s second tower)floridiandevelopment.com
Interested in buying at Smart Brickell Tower?
Learn more about buying at Smart Brickell Tower with Josh Stein.
I have sold South Florida property since 2002, more than $1 billion of it. Ask me for the recorded declaration, what has genuinely closed, or a straight answer on whether this building fits what you are after. Part of South Florida New Construction. Tell Josh which building. He’ll send what the filings show and let you know when it changes.Thinking about Smart Brickell Tower?
Related coverage
Get this building’s public record before you put down a deposit