Court Sends 619 Brickell by Nobu Site Back to Historic Board

619 Brickell by Nobu, the 75-story condo tower planned on the bayfront land behind First Presbyterian Church of Miami, has to go back before the city's historic preservation board. On July 16, 2026, the appellate division of the Miami-Dade circuit court quashed the city's decisions that had narrowed the church's historic protection, ruling that the neighboring Icon Brickell Tower 2 condo association had been denied due process. The ruling does not cancel the tower, but it reopens the approval its site depends on.

What the court decided

The church at 609 Brickell Avenue was designated historic in 2003, a designation that also covered its school annex and parking lot. In 2024 the city's Historic and Environmental Preservation Board narrowed the protected area to the 1949 sanctuary, which freed the rear of the site for the tower, and in April 2025 the City Commission denied the Icon Brickell association's appeal, finding that it lacked standing.

The court disagreed. According to Florida YIMBY and a release from the Brickell Homeowners Association, which backed the association, the ruling sets aside both the board's December 2024 decision and the Commission's April 2025 decision and sends the matter back to the city for a new public hearing and vote on the boundaries. The association's tower sits about 160 feet from the church property, according to that release.

The project

13th Floor Investments and Key International are developing the tower with Nobu Hospitality, with Foster + Partners as design architect and Sieger Suarez Architects as architect of record, according to Florida YIMBY and the Nobu and Foster + Partners announcement. Reported unit counts range from 296 to 321 depending on the filing or marketing document, and the plans include a Nobu restaurant at the water's edge. Sales opened in 2026, but no construction start has been announced. As of October 13, 2026, any delivery date is a projection.

What it means for buyers and neighbors

For a buyer holding a reservation or contract on a pre-construction unit, a new historic hearing is a schedule risk worth reading the contract for: what happens to deposits and closing dates if approvals slip.

For owners next door, the stakes are views and supply. The Icon Brickell complex, home of the association that won the ruling, has 128 units listed for sale and sold 51 in the last 12 months at a median $667 per square foot, about 30 months of supply. Across Brickell, Own.Miami counts 1,133 condos for sale against 747 closings in the last 12 months, about 18 months of supply, and sellers accepted a median 92% of the asking price. Our Buyer/Seller Market Index for Brickell is 22 of 100, a buyer's market.

The new-construction premium is large. Units in Brickell towers not yet delivered are listed at a median $1,307 per square foot, against $709 for resale listings, an 84% premium. Five Brickell projects in our pipeline plan 1,561 units.