While it may be showstopping in its own right, spotting an Aston Martin zooming around the city of Miami – particularly on the week of the Grand Prix – is the elite equivalent of seeing a pigeon on the streets in New York: it’s almost second nature. But an Aston Martin 800-plus-ft in the sky? Now that is worthy of stopping you in your tracks.
This week, the luxury British marque unveiled its latest lofty offering: the Aston Martin Residences, a 66-story luxury skyscraper parked right on Miami’s waterfront.
It’s been a long-tracked road to this point since plans were first unveiled in 2019, but speaking on the eve of the residences’ opening, Aston Martin’s executive vice president and chief creative officer, Marek Reichman couldn’t look more thrilled.
In recent years, Aston Martin has turned to partnerships to take the brand off the road and into the center of a customer’s life, where everything from luggage to whisky to watches can be found embellished with the marque’s signature wings. Now, the Miami Residences is just one – granted, a 66-story tall – stepping stone to turn the automotive marque into a full-blown luxury lifestyle conglomerate.
[See also: Residences at Mandarin Oriental, Miami, Lists $100m Penthouse]
“If you’re in love with a brand, say, Aston Martin, you don’t just want to drive the car,” says Reichman, “you want an association with the brand because it represents you and stands for things you love; the materials, sense of style, innovation, rarity, all of those things.”
Related
Speaking on how the ambitious project first started, it seems almost born out of sheer serendipity. It is as though the universe aligned in such a way in 2012 – when Germán Coto, CEO of his family’s firm G&G Business Developments, first raised interest in the site – to ensure the fated behemoth monolith would stand tall and proud on Miami’s waterfront more than a decade later.
“We wanted to do a very amazing project,” says Coto. “From there, we imagined our obsession with innovation and design,” eventually getting in touch with Reichman and Aston Martin to bring the vision to life.
“Everything made sense because Germán and his team and the family were so committed to delivering on the principles that we set as Aston Martin,” says Reichman. “I could see an immediate togetherness in terms of the feeling that was needed to represent Aston Martin in this series of residences; so quality materials, design.”
Content from our partners
The pitch was simple but nonetheless ambitious – particularly when you consider it’s the first residential project for either Aston Martin or G&G. Enlisting the help of architect Rodolfo Miani of Buenos Aires firm Bodas Miani Anger, Coto put forward his vision to Aston Martin: “We wanted a shape that would redefine the skyline of Miami,” is how he puts it. Have they achieved it? Well, the Aston Martin Miami Residences can not only lay claim to being the tallest residential block in the state but in the whole of the US, south of New York.
[See also: Four Seasons Announce First Standalone Residences in Miami]
Despite carrying the Aston Martin name above the door, take just one quick glance at the building and you’ll quickly spot that the building doesn’t exactly look like an Aston Martin you’d usually find on the road. Of course, Reichman reassures me that was all intentional: “There isn’t a direct line of, here’s a car and we’ll stand it on its end and there’s a building.
“It’s the ethos of making the car: the materials that make the car, the beauty that makes the car, the impression that someone else has when they see you in an Aston Martin that makes the building.”
Besides it doesn’t need to look like a vehicle to see Aston Martin’s fingerprints – or should we say tire tracks? – are all over the building. The building exerts Aston Martin’s design forward-thinking that can be seen from the other side of Miami’s harbor. The grandiose glass exterior radiates in the Florida sunshine, with the distinctive curve of the building’s sail-like side profile dramatically sliced into midway, revealing the infinity pool and sundeck presented to the skies on the 55th floor.
The building’s amenities feel like the residential equivalent to the kind of high-tech mod-cons found in James Bond’s Aston Martin. In addition to that infinity pool, there’s the bar, cinema, golf simulator, art gallery and ballroom, all crowned off with a helipad on the 66th floor.
But it’s in the smallest details that the heritage brand’s signature dedication to craftsmanship is most apparent. “It’s a state-of-the-art building, and that branding, that 100 years of British heritage, it’s all over the place,” notes Coto. From the same automotive-quality leather used on the door handles to the carbon fiber fixtures and the specially developed keyless locks.
“We didn’t take an off-the-shelf key holder and we redesigned all of that architecture and hardware that goes on the door,” explains Reichman. Even the signature scent that residents experience stepping into the lobby is bespoke and designed to emulate that sensation of getting behind the wheel of an Aston Martin.
[See also: A First Look Inside the St. Regis Residences, Miami]
Nowhere is this better demonstrated than in the Penthouse. Of course, the seven-bedroom, eight-bathroom property is jaw-dropping in all its extravagance (as is the $59m price tag) – from the custom-made spiral glass staircase to the sculptural crystal light features, down to the rare one of 24 Vulcan race cars whose keys come in addition to keys to the property.
Anyone with a thumb on the pulse of real estate developments can tell you that Miami is experiencing an influx of branded residences. From hospitality heavyweights like Four Seasons and Waldorf Astoria to leaders in luxury lifestyle, sprawling towers brandished with the likes of Porsche, Baraccat and Bentley Motors are set to pop up in every pocket of the city over the next five or so years.
[See also: Aston Martin Opens Ultra-luxury Q Flagship in New York]
For their part, Reichman and Coto seem completely unphased by any concerns of overcrowding: “Everybody needs competition to get better. You know, if Novak Djokovic were playing me at tennis every week, he wouldn’t get any better,” jibs Reichman. “We compete on the road with cars, and now we compete with buildings, it’s just natural.” Coto is similarly cavilar: “There are other companies that start and there are others that will follow, but the trend was made with Aston Martin.”
Whether or not Aston Martin will continue down this trend themselves, we will have to wait with bated breath. Despite completing two smaller, bespoke properties during the time of the Miami residence’s development – a luxury home in Tokyo and the Sylvan Rock private house in upstate New York – the brand has yet to confirm the undertaking of another large-scale project.
[See also: Bentley Reveals Plans For Luxury Miami Residences]
Reichman is rather coy about confirming if – or more accurately, when – the next Aston Martin branded tower will emerge: “If there are clients that want that service, then obviously we’ll continue to do that for sure.” Going off of the noise resonating from Miami’s grand opening, it seems like Aston Martin’s architectural side hustle will continue for at least a little while longer.
It’s hard to measure the success of a project like this: the goal of fundamentally changing Miami’s skyline has certainly been met in all its glass and glimmering glory. But if we’re speaking in terms of metrics, when 99% of the 391 apartments available have been sold before the doors have been opened, the answer is fairly conclusive. It’s only a matter of time until we can expect to see an Aston Martin tower popping up in a city near you.
[See also: Dolce & Gabbana Launch First Residences and Hotel in Miami]
