Sandra Del Castillo has several kitchens, but she doesn’t cook. “I do a lot of eating out,” she says — preferably, at Cipriani. “We’ve been going for years. It’s odd if I don’t find myself in Cipriani multiple times a week.”
A Miami local and the founder of IPM Worldwide Properties, she’s a regular at Cipriani’s Brickell Avenue location, where she always requests one off-menu dish for the table (“They’ll make a spaghetti with red sauce and fresh mozzarella that is just to die for”).
So when the Italian hospitality group announced the launch of the Cipriani Residences Miami in Brickell — just down the road from the restaurant — Castillo ate up the opportunity to live and breathe the brand.
“I have three units in the building,” says Castillo of the 80-story, 397-residence tower at 1420 South Miami Ave., which is currently under construction. “Cipriani isn’t just an emblematic brand, it’s so deeply rooted in the customer experience that it feels like family.”
She’s such a believer in the project that she recommends the building to her clients, even though Fortune Development Sales has the exclusive market rights (unit prices start at $1.7 million).
Castillo isn’t alone in her zeal for living in proximity to a good meal. A bevy of new buildings by high-end hospitality groups are rising for buyers who live to eat.
Most notable among them is Terra and One Thousand Group’s Major Food Group-branded, 70-residence, 56-story Villa Miami at 700 NE 29th St. in Edgewater. The project will treat buyers to a menu that includes majordomo concierge services, a rooftop helipad and an on-site restaurant. Prices start at $5 million and come with membership to an in-building club — with a bar, a movie theater, a spa, a pool and a helipad — private to 50 to 100 members. Want a reservation? Call Douglas Elliman.
Casa Tua is cooking with similar flavors at Ora. Located at 1210 Brickell Ave, the 77-story building has 533 fully furnished residences developed by Fortune International Group in partnership with the clubby Miami-based restaurant and bar. It’s channeling resort vibes with a 9th-floor pool, cabanas and a 40-foot, open-sky garden.
Casa Tua is also planning four new dining concepts (Terra, Uva, Fuoco and Vento) at the building, which will boast the tallest rooftop restaurant in Miami. Topping that all off is a 77th-floor private club — another “tallest in Miami.” Prices start at $995,000.
Finally, international fine-dining superstar Jean-Georges Vongerichten is plating up a new 329-unit, 48-story branded condominium in the Design District, the Jean-Georges Miami Tropic Residences, with Terra and Lion Development.
It’s the first real estate venture from the chef, and Vongerichten is eager to get it right. He’s personally programming the dining, selecting the kitchen appliances and even filling home fridges with local produce (should you wish). Catch him in the elevator; he’s keeping a unit for himself.
Pricing will start at $1.6 million.
