The Branded Condo Craze Is Supersizing Amenity Spaces

Selling a luxury South Florida condo has never been less about a unit’s four walls.

As the region’s development pipeline has filled up with towers sporting luxury brands like Waldorf Astoria, Bentley and Dolce & Gabbana, competing for buyers who can afford $5M or more for an apartment, the size of amenity spaces in new buildings has exploded.

Courtesy of Related Group

A rendering of the speakeasy within the W Hotel & Residences Pompano Beach

The average amenity space in a new condo building hit 50K SF in the first quarter, a 100% increase from 2020, when amenity packages averaged 25K SF, according to a first-quarter ISG World report. 

The gyms, cafés, pools and spas expected in new projects would have been unrecognizable to developers in 2000, who only built an average of 8K SF of amenities per building. 

“Old school, all you needed was a pool deck and a club room and that was the 20-year-ago model,” Related Group Executive Vice President Patrick Campbell said. “Now, you can’t just have one pool. If you can fit it, you need two pools.”

There are more than 17,000 condo units and 115 condo buildings in pre-construction in Miami’s downtown core, Miami Beach and Broward County, according to ISG. 

The pipeline is heavily tilted toward projects that carry a brand. Miami is the second-largest global market for branded condos, with 48 completed projects and 55 planned, according to a February Savills report. Fort Lauderdale is ninth. 

Luxury hotel brands like St. Regis, Waldorf Astoria, Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton bring their own set of requirements that may add to the square footage of the amenity packages, developers said.

“Marriott is giving you the brand standard, and they’re telling you, ‘If you want to have the license, and if we approve of you as the developer, and if we approve the location, and if we approve the project, just FYI, this is what you need to have in your project,'” BH Group founder Isaac Toledano said.

“They give you a list of things that they want to see, and if you cannot meet that criteria, you’re not going to get the brand,” he added.

The W Hotel & Residences Pompano Beach, which Related and BH Group are developing in collaboration with Marriott International, has a 63K SF pool deck as part of its amenity package, according to a release.

The project, where units start at $3.1M, includes private cabanas, a full-service bar and grill, pickleball and padel courts, and a jacuzzi outdoors. Indoors, it includes a “signature” living room that serves as a gathering space that was required by the brand, Campbell said.

Related Group, which has developed more than 65,000 condos valued at over $20B, is also developing The St. Regis Residences, Miami with Integra Investments, according to a release.

The project, planned for completion in 2027, dedicates more than 50K SF to indoor and outdoor amenities, including a gym with a pilates and yoga studio, a pickleball court, a private marina and a spa. The building’s residences are going for up to $25.5M.

St. Regis wanted a cognac lounge and a place allocated toward afternoon tea, Campbell recalled.

“All those are fortunate when you make the decision to go that that route with a brand, you have a core base of things that you have to make sure that you include, and then everything else starts to evolve around those,” he said.

Courtesy of BH Group

The gold simulator at The Ritz-Carlton Residences West Palm Beach

Condo projects have also seen an increase in amenities focused on wellness and rejuvenation amid the push for resident longevity for the ultra-wealthy, Campbell and Toledano said. That includes space for larger gyms, red light therapy and cold plunges, cryotherapy and spas.

Developers are also building more amenities focused on entertainment, business and leisure, like golf simulators, movie theaters, podcast studios and coworking spaces, Campbell said.

“It’s having to cater to people who want more than just spending time in their units,” Campbell said. “They want to have friends over and to participate and have a more social lifestyle at a different level without sitting in their unit watching television or having a small dinner party.”

The trend toward luxurious amenities, many of which need staffing, comes as condos are skyrocketing in price.

The median sale price of a luxury condo was $1.6M in 2020, according to a 2020 first-quarter Condo Blackbook report. By the end of 2025, luxury units went for roughly $2.5M, according to a fourth-quarter Condo Blackbook report. Ultra-luxury units range from $10M to $15M.

Amid rising costs in construction, deciding what amenities to include is a delicate balance as developers weigh how much it costs and how much they can charge.

“At the end of the day, developers are not building projects as charity,” Toledano said. “At the end of the day, when a developer is building a project and is taking all this risk, at the end, he wants to make money. But on the other hand, you cannot put everything on the buyer side.”