A Miami court has ordered a new hearing over the historic designation of the First Presbyterian Church of Miami property, introducing another approval step for 619 Brickell, a 75-story residential tower planned along Biscayne Bay in Miami’s Brickell neighborhood. Developed by 13th Floor Investments and Key International, the project is designed by Foster + Partners in collaboration with Sieger Suarez Architects and is planned to rise from the waterfront portion of the church property at 619 Brickell Avenue.
The ruling overturns a previous decision involving the City of Miami’s Historic and Environmental Preservation Board and requires the board to conduct another hearing and vote concerning changes to the historic boundaries of the church property. The decision does not reject the proposed tower itself, but reopens a preservation proceeding that helped make the rear portion of the site available for redevelopment.
The First Presbyterian Church of Miami stands at 609 Brickell Avenue and has occupied the property since the mid-20th century. The site was designated historic by the city in 2003. In 2024, the Historic and Environmental Preservation Board considered a request to amend the designation, ultimately narrowing the protected area to the 1949 sanctuary while excluding the educational annex, parking area, and portions of the property behind the church.
The amendment was approved preliminarily in July 2024 and finalized that December. The change allowed portions of the property considered non-contributing to the historic designation to be considered for demolition and redevelopment while retaining protections around the sanctuary building.
Residents and neighboring condominium associations subsequently challenged the proceedings. An appeal brought before the Miami City Commission in April 2025 sought to challenge the preservation board’s decision, but commissioners denied the appeal after determining that the neighboring Icon Brickell Condominium II Association lacked standing to intervene. The latest court ruling requires the preservation matter to return to the city board for another hearing.
Plans for the property have evolved since the preservation proceedings began. The current iteration, known as 619 Brickell by Nobu, calls for a 75-story waterfront residential tower with approximately 296 residences and roughly 90,000 square feet of private amenity space. Nobu Hospitality is attached to the development, which would mark the hospitality company’s first residential project in Miami.
Foster + Partners designed the tower with a gently twisting massing formed by stacked residential floor plates and curving terraces. The glass-clad structure rises behind the existing church sanctuary, while a lower podium and landscaped areas establish the transition between the historic building, Brickell Avenue, and the bayfront. A circular Nobu restaurant is planned near ground level along the waterfront.
The tower is being developed under a partnership between 13th Floor Investments and Key International. The development agreement associated with the church property dates to 2022 and provides the development team rights to acquire and redevelop portions of the site while the historic sanctuary remains in place.
619 Brickell has continued advancing through Miami’s development review process while the preservation dispute has proceeded separately. The new court order does not overturn the tower’s other development approvals, but requires the Historic and Environmental Preservation Board to reconsider the matter that altered the boundaries of the church’s historic designation.
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Really? The parking lot is historic? Courts and historic preservation have bigger fish to fry in this city, considering all the beautiful 1910s and 1920s homes with mature trees, destroyed for concrete boxes with astroturf lawns and infinity pools.