Bal Harbour

Bal Harbour is a half-mile of oceanfront at the northern tip of the barrier island, a village of about three thousand residents whose name is known far beyond Miami for one reason: Bal Harbour Shops, the open-air mall of Chanel, Gucci and Neiman Marcus at the corner of Collins Avenue and 96th Street. Everything residential sits on the ocean side of Collins between the Shops and Haulover Inlet, a single row of towers with the beach walk running behind them and Haulover Park's marina and beach beyond the bridge.

The row reads like a timeline of Miami condo building. Harbour House and the Balmoral date from the 1960s and 70s, when Bal Harbour was a resort strip of hotels; Bal Harbour 101, the Tiffany and the Majestic Tower came in the following two decades; the St. Regis, the Ritz-Carlton residences at One Bal Harbour and Oceana are the current generation, with Rivage the newest addition at the village's southern edge.

Life here is quiet by design: a beach path shaded by sea grapes, the Shops' restaurants for lunch, the village hall and park across Collins, and Surfside's small-town main street a short walk south. The older towers offer some of the largest oceanfront floor plans on the island at prices well below the new buildings, which is why renovation and reserve history matter so much on these building pages.