A historic church, Nobu condos: Inside the clash over Brickell site’s future

The First Miami Presbyterian Church, home to the city’s oldest congregation, sits on a prime slice of waterfront real estate in Brickell.

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The site is valuable to both the church and developers.

To 13th Floor Investments and Key International, two Miami development firms, the value was about $240 million.

The developers struck a deal with the church to buy part of its land, which the congregation voted to approve in 2021. They have since rolled out plans for a 75-story Nobu-branded condo tower behind the historic building at 609 Brickell Ave.

In recent months, the developers received approval from the city’s design review board and launched pre-construction sales of units in the proposed tower. But a dispute with a nearby Brickell condo association has stalled the project.

Plans for the ultra-luxury Nobu condo building, where unit prices range from about $3 million to $60 million, include a Nobu restaurant and a wellness suite dedicated to biohacking and longevity. Nobu is a high-end dining and hospitality brand with hotels, restaurants and condos around the world, including in Miami Beach.

But before the developers can build the swank tower, part of the site needed to be stripped of its historic landmark status. The three-acre site contains a church, school and parking lot, all of which are historically designated. The church petitioned the city in 2023 to remove the landmark status for the school and parking lot.

When the question went before the city’s Historic and Environmental Preservation Board in December 2024, residents of a nearby condo building, Icon Brickell Tower 2, tried to speak out against the measure. The board said the condo association did not have standing to intervene and voted to remove the site’s historic status, kicking off a multi-year dispute.

Church’s historic status

Property records show the church was built in 1948, though its congregation dates back to 1896, shortly before Miami was incorporated as a city. Additional buildings, including the school, were built in 1964. County records list the church as the owner of the three-acre parcel, which stretches from Brickell Avenue to Biscayne Bay. The city designated the site historic in 2003.

Under the developers’ plans, the sanctuary would remain, while the school would be demolished. The tower would be built on a two-acre portion of the site that includes the church’s parking lot.

The Rev. Christopher Benek, First Miami Presbyterian Church’s pastor, declined to comment on the plans for the site.

As congregations shrink and churches become increasingly strapped for cash, it’s not uncommon for places of worship on valuable real estate to sell their land to developers. First United Methodist Church sold its one-acre downtown property for $55 million in 2018. A developer built a condo and hotel tower on the site, and the church moved to a new home in a downtown high-rise.

The portion of the First Miami Presbyterian Church site slated for redevelopment faces a sliver of Biscayne Bay that separates Brickell from Brickell Key. To the north is Mary Brickell Park, a two-acre city park. In the area between the church and the bay, which is separate from the city park, trucks serve food and coffee. It’s come to function like a park, though the land is not city-owned.

“Right now, it doubles as a place where there’s a coffee cart and families with children … enjoying an afternoon breeze on a summer afternoon,” said Pia De Lima, an Icon 2 resident who supports the condo association’s fight against the city.

Residents crave open space in a neighborhood that’s become Miami’s concrete jungle. Nearby Allen Morris Brickell Park, formerly a city park, is set to be redeveloped as a high-end restaurant and may become a high-rise condo after that. Brickell’s South Side Park is now the site of a sales center for a Mercedes Benz-branded condo tower.

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Condo association seeks to intervene

At the December 2024 meeting of the city’s historic preservation board, the condo association representing Brickell Icon Tower 2 tried to intervene, but the board said the association did not have the standing to do so. Icon 2, a condo tower with about 1,300 residents, is across Mary Brickell Park from the church site.

The association appealed this decision to the Miami City Commission. When the commission came to the same conclusion, the condo association appealed once again to Miami-Dade Circuit Court.

A panel of three judges ruled that the Icon 2 association does have the standing to intervene. The matter must once again go before the city’s Historic and Environmental Preservation Board — and this time, the Icon 2 condo association must be allowed to weigh in at the meeting.

Last week, the city appealed the court’s decision. If the city’s appeal is successful, that would mean the project could go ahead without additional hearings.

In a statement, 13th Floor called the ruling “procedural” and said it has “no impact” on its plans for the site.

“The court ruled on one narrow question — whether a neighboring association should have been granted time to be heard at a public hearing — and ordered that hearing to be held again with their participation. We welcome that; neighbors deserve the opportunity to voice their concerns, and this is simply one more step in a public process we respect,” the developer said in a statement.

But the project can’t go forward until this issue is resolved.

Neighbors want a say, but expect development

Ernesto Cuesta, the president and co-founder of the Brickell Neighborhood Association, said because the site is privately owned, he thinks it will eventually be developed. The neighborhood association is a community group that includes about 60 condo associations and other entities in the area. Icon 2 is a member of the group, as is First Miami Presbyterian Church.

“We’re not fighting here about the development,” Cuesta said, rather about “the right to be heard by the city.”

De Lima’s “Cinderella-type wish” would be to see the site turned into a public park. But she acknowledged development is the more likely outcome.

She said she expects development to take place once the dispute is settled. But De Lima said she and her fellow Icon 2 residents want “a seat at the table” as the future of the site is decided.

Basil Marcelline, the president of Icon 2’s condo association, said residents in his building felt “steamrolled and not heard” during the process.

“All we want is to be heard,” said Marcelline, “so that we can present how we feel about the community that we live in.”

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