Before they were built: Miami’s biggest towers

Construction seems like a permanent part of Miami’s cityscape. With so many new buildings going up every year, it’s easy to lose track of what’s being built and what’s been finished.

RentCafe.com, a real estate blog and rental website, dug up 10 photos of Miami’s biggest towers from 2004 and compared them to what they look like today.

Take a look at this interactive slideshow of Miami’s biggest towers before and after they were built. Drag the slider to to view the buildings as they were in 2007 and 2014.

1. JW Marriott Marquis Miami and the EPIC hotel

JW Marriott Marquis Miami, a 41-story hotel building in Miami’s Downtown, opened its 357 rooms in 2010. The JW, and its neighbor Epic across the street, have several amenities built to cater to traveling NBA teams. The Epic Hotel, at 270 Biscayne Boulevard Way, has high ceilings and raised vanities, while the JW, at 255 Biscayne Boulevard Way, has a regulation-sized basketball court.

2. Paramount Bay

The 47-story Paramount Bay, a mixed-use tower with 346 condos at 2066 North Bayshore Drive, was completed in 2011. The project was nearly completed in 2010 when it went into foreclosure over a $216 million loan. It was taken over soon after by lender iStar and ST Residential through a foreclosure suit. The companies put up the rest of the financing needed to complete the project, and after a quick redesign by Kravitz Design, the building opened its doors a year later.

3. The Mint

The Mint, a riverfront condo tower with 602 units at 92 Southwest Third Street, was built in 2009. It stretches 56 stories and has more than 800 feet of river frontage.

4. MyBrickell

The 27-story MyBrickell condo tower at 31 Southeast Sixth Street in Miami’s financial district was completed in late 2013. All 192 of its units were sold out by early May of 2014, just two years after construction on the tower began. It is located across the street from the upcoming 11-acre Brickell City Centre development.

5. 1450 Brickell

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1450 Brickell, a 35-story office tower with 583,000 square feet of commercial space, was completed in 2010. The building was named “project of the year” in 2012 by the Urban Land Institute District Council for Southeast Florida and the Caribbean.

6. BrickellHouse

The newly completed BrickellHouse, developed by Harvey Hernandez, is a 46-story residential tower with 374 units at 1300 Brickell Bay Drive. The development sold 98 percent of its units within 90 days of opening. Hernandez’s development team was hit with a $15.8 million foreclosure lawsuit in 2013 over the land it was built on, but the suit was eventually settled.

7. Brickell World Plaza

Yet another tower in Brickell, the Brickell World Plaza is a 40-story office building that opened in 2011. The building, at 600 Brickell Avenue, has a LEED Platinum certification.

8. Icon Brickell

Icon Brickell, a three-tower development at 501 Brickell Avenue, built by the Related Group, has 1,793 residential units and was completed in 2008. The roughly $1 billion project was designed by Arquitectonica with interior designs by Philippe Starck.

9. One Brickell Plaza

The 22-story One Brickell Plaza building has both residential units and office space, and was completed in 2009. It is located at 1800 Southwest First Avenue, between downtown Miami, Coconut Grove and Coral Gables.

10. Nine at Mary Brickell Village

The 35-story Nine at Mary Brickell Village complex on the 900 block of Southwest First Avenue, which was finished earlier this year, has 390 condos and was developed by San Antonio-based Lynd Co. The project ran into trouble in 2014 when a social media post said it was struggling to sell units and was converting back to rentals.