Claudio Fischer Plans 544-Unit Resi Tower in Brickell

A developer proposes a 544-unit residential tower on the former Mexican Consulate site in Brickell, marking a continuing flurry of project applications for Miami’s financial district.

The proposal is for a 41-story building with 9,400 square feet of ground-floor retail and 421 parking spaces on the 1-acre assemblage on the northeast corner of Southwest First Avenue and Southwest 14th Street, according to a filing to Miami-Dade County submitted last week. The proposal doesn’t specify whether this will be a condominium or apartment project.

The properties are at 68, 82 and 84 Southwest 13th Street and 1399 Southwest First Avenue.

An entity led by Chilean developer Claudio Fischer filed the application. He bought the site for $53 million in 2020, records show.

The Ardid family’s Brickell-based Key International signed an agreement with Fischer in December to purchase the development site for an undisclosed amount, according to a memorandum of purchase agreement filed with Miami-Dade County. Brothers Diego and Inigo Ardid lead the firm started by their father, Jose Ardid. They didn’t immediately return a request for comment on whether they plan to develop the project.

Fischer’s affiliate, CF TSG Brickell, is seeking a pre-application meeting with Miami-Dade administrative staff members. Generally, this is requested so that developers can gauge the county’s input on a proposal before filing an official application.

The site is in a Metromover Subzone of Miami-Dade’s Rapid Transit Zone, a zoning designation that allows bigger projects on properties near Metromover stops. It also gives the county jurisdiction over development decisions of these sites, even if they are in the city of Miami.

The Mexican Consulate moved its office from the Brickell site to 2555 Ponce de Leon in Coral Gables in 2023, according to media reports.

Fischer, founder of Latin America casino resorts operator Sun Dreams, hasn’t made much of a splash in South Florida real estate so far.

Last year, he sold the waterfront 14,930-square-foot spec mansion with eight bedrooms at 40 Palm Avenue on Miami Beach’s Palm Island for $40 million. Fischer completed developing the home in 2023.

The Ardid family has a more established development record in South Florida. In Brickell, Key International completed the 504-unit Ivy and 530-unit Mint condo towers. It had started the projects during the condo boom that preceded the Great Recession and managed to complete the towers and sell the units during the downcycle.

The firm’s portfolio spans roughly 6,000 condos and apartments, 3,000 hotel rooms under management worth $2 billion, and commercial investments.

In 2023, Key International proposed to redevelop its 13-story headquarters building at 848 Brickell Avenue in Miami into a new 51-story office tower, though no known progress or preleasing has taken place.

It also is partnering with Arnaud Karsenti’s 13th Floor Investments on a planned 80-story condo tower behind the First Miami Presbyterian Church at 609 Brickell Avenue, also in Miami’s Brickell.

Developers have homed in on Brickell with a flurry of new projects.

Swiss firm Empira Group scored a $111.3 million construction loan for a 26-story, 310-unit apartment tower at 244 Southwest Ninth Street last month. In April, PMG scored $413 million to build One Twenty Brickell Residences at 120 Southwest Eighth Street with a 37-story, 266-unit condo tower and a 41-story, 537-unit apartment tower.

This month, Jay Roberts’ Prosper Group and Forte Development proposed an 80-story mixed-use tower with 250 condos, 48 condo-hotel units and 100 hotel keys at 1040 South Miami Avenue in Brickell.