Remodeling a Brickell Condo

Mostly towers, mostly young

Brickell is high-rise condos and rentals. The median building in 33131 went up in 2005, 28% of units there were built in 2010 or later, and only 2% predate 1960, according to Census figures.

So most remodels here aren't rescues. They're upgrades: builder-grade cabinets pulled out, a dated bath reworked, hard floors laid over the original finish.

Only 37% of occupied units in 33131 are lived in by their owners. A lot of Brickell jobs are landlords getting a unit ready to rent or sell.

South of the core, around The Roads in 33129, the mix shifts. About 20% of homes there are detached houses, and the median year built is 1978.

Older mid-rise condos from the 1970s still stand, too. The Real Deal reported that El Vedado, a 36-unit Brickell building from 1972, was bought out unit by unit and resold to a developer in 2025. If your building is that age, find out whether a buyout is being talked about before you spend on a new kitchen.

The board reviews it, then iBuild

The City of Miami Building Department issues permits here, and every application is filed online through its iBuild portal, with plans reviewed in ProjectDox.

Swapping a fixture for the same thing, like a toilet, kitchen sink or water heater, can go through the city's Easy Permit program with a licensed contractor and no plan review. A full kitchen or bath remodel isn't on that list.

Owner-builder permits are limited to owner-occupied one- and two-family homes, so plan on a licensed contractor for a tower unit.

Before any of that, your association looks at the plans. Moving a drain or a floor outlet can mean coring the concrete slab, which is structure everyone in the building shares. Your board may want an engineer's sign-off before it approves that kind of work.

There's one thing the board can't block. Florida law says it may not refuse a unit owner's hurricane protection, such as impact windows or doors, when it meets the specifications the board has adopted.

VE on the bay, X a few blocks in

Flood risk in Brickell changes block by block. FEMA's map puts parts of the bayfront, along Brickell Bay Drive and Brickell Avenue, in zone VE, where waves add to the risk, with base flood elevations of 13 to 15 feet at the points sampled. Brickell Key and parts of the area near Mary Brickell Village sampled as AE. Some blocks around South Miami Avenue and West Brickell came back as zone X. Your tower's own zone is on FEMA's Flood Map Service Center, searchable by street address.

During Hurricane Irma in 2017, CBS Miami reported three to four feet of water on Brickell Avenue.

The City of Miami's 50% rule works like this: when improvements cost half or more of the structure's market value, the building has to be brought up to current flood code. The city counts the building only, never the land. Lobby-level and ground-floor spaces are where it usually comes up. Because the value belongs to the building rather than your unit, ask how the city applies the math in your tower before planning anything large.

What sets Brickell apart

• Inspections can land the same year as your remodel. Condo buildings of three or more habitable stories need a state milestone inspection by the end of the year they turn 30 (the local building official can move it to 25), then every 10 years. Miami-Dade's recertification comes due at 25 or 30 years depending on location and age. Brickell's mid-2000s towers are heading into that window.
• Reserves can't be voted away. Florida requires a structural integrity reserve study at least every 10 years for these buildings. The association can no longer waive or reduce reserves for the items the study covers, so a special assessment could arrive while you're paying for a kitchen.
• A seawall rebuild on Brickell Bay Drive. The city plans a new seawall, baywalk and roadway between SE 14th Street and SE 15th Road, with construction estimated from February 2027 to January 2029. If your building is on that stretch, ask the remodeler how deliveries and parking will work during it.
• Fewer old-pipe surprises. With so little pre-1960 housing, the surprises here tend to be in the building's rules, not behind the drywall.

Own a unit north of the river instead? The Arts & Entertainment District page covers towers from the same building boom.

Projects for a tower unit

• Kitchen remodeling: new cabinets and counters laid out around the plumbing your board lets you keep or move.
• Bathroom remodeling: a tub-to-shower swap or a full redo, timed around your elevator reservation.
• Home remodeling: several rooms in one unit, submitted so the board sees the whole plan at one time.
• Countertops: quartz or stone slabs sized to fit the service elevator.
• Kitchen cabinets: replacing the builder-grade boxes most mid-2000s units came with.
• Flooring: tile or wood over concrete, after you ask whether your building has a sound rule for underlayment.

Know what the board allows, then get the price in writing

Call (786) 627-5048 and we'll connect you with a remodeler who works in Miami. Press 1, then choose kitchen or bathroom and enter your ZIP code. Prefer to type it out? Send your unit details through our written price form.