Stand at the corner of Collins Avenue and 88th Street in Surfside and you can see both of them without turning your head. To the north, a construction fence wraps a 1.8-acre oceanfront lot where cranes have started the slow work of rising a building that architecture critics will write about for years. Diagonally across from it, a smaller site is already half finished, its 24 units moving through closings while the neighbor across the intersection still hasn't signed a single buyer.
Both projects trace back to the same six months in 2021. Both sit on land that changed hands because of the same tragedy. And both are chasing the same buyer, the affluent Northeasterner or global second-home shopper who has already decided Surfside is where they want to be. One found that buyer. The other, priced roughly six times higher, is still looking.
The Same Origin, Two Very Different Bets
The site at 8777 Collins Avenue is the former home of Champlain Towers South, which collapsed on June 24, 2021, killing 98 people. In 2022, Dubai-based DAMAC Properties paid $120 million for the land at a court-ordered auction where it was the sole bidder, with the proceeds helping fund the settlement for survivors and victims' families. DAMAC hired Zaha Hadid Architects, in its first American project, to design The Delmore, a 12-story tower of 37 full- and half-floor residences averaging more than 7,000 square feet. Units start near $15 million. Most fall between $35 million and $40 million. Penthouses have been marketed above $150 million.
Two months after the collapse, in August 2021, a separate group of Miami developers, LD&D's Diego and Alejandro Bonet, together with Daniel de la Vega's ONE Capital and IGEQ, paid $7.3 million for a much smaller lot at 8800 Collins Avenue, catty-corner from the Champlain site. Their first concept, floated in 2022, was eight oceanfront townhomes starting above $5 million. That version never got traction. In October 2024, the partners relaunched Surf Row Residences as 24 smaller condominiums, ranging from roughly 900 to 2,000 square feet, with prices starting at $1.4 million. ONE Sotheby's International Realty, led by de la Vega, took over sales and marketing. Construction began in late 2025 with the Rinaldi Group as general contractor, backed by a $30.5 million loan from Maxim Capital Group. By early August 2026, PROFILEmiami reported the project had reached 50 percent sold, with completion still tracking for 2027.
The Delmore tells a different story. Sales opened in January 2025 with a soft launch that developer Jeffrey Rossely, DAMAC's senior vice president of development, later admitted was rushed, the sales gallery wasn't even finished. As of April 2026, no contracts had been signed, and The Real Deal reported the company was in talks to bring in a joint-venture partner. A deal for more than $200 million in units nearly closed before falling apart over unresolved questions about the buyer's source of funds. A September 4, 2026 update from CooperatorNews confirmed the zero-contract status still held, with the developer still finalizing the roughly $1.5 billion construction insurance package the project requires and still without a signed general contractor. DAMAC has said it plans to relaunch sales toward the end of 2026.
| The Delmore (8777 Collins Ave) | Surf Row Residences (8800 Collins Ave) | |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | DAMAC Properties (East Oceanside Development) | LD&D with ONE Capital and IGEQ |
| Architect | Zaha Hadid Architects | Alfonso Jurado Architecture and Boris Pena Architects |
| Units | 37, averaging 7,000+ sq ft | 24, roughly 900 to 2,000 sq ft |
| Starting price | Near $15 million, averaging $35 to $40 million | $1.4 million |
| Sales launched | January 2025 | Relaunched October 2024 |
| Status as of September 2026 | Zero signed contracts | 50 percent sold |
| Expected completion | 2029 | 2027 |
The Rest of Surfside Isn't Waiting Around
The Delmore's stall is not a symptom of a cooling Surfside market. Quite the opposite. Corcoran Group data reported through The Real Deal showed Surfside condo sales rose 57 percent in the first quarter of 2026 compared with the year before, inventory fell 25 percent, and the average condo price climbed 23 percent to $6.1 million. Nearby buildings that have been open for sales for years, including the Four Seasons Private Residences at the Surf Club and the Arte building, kept trading actively through the same period. In March 2026, former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz paid $44 million for a Surf Club penthouse, close to $8,000 per square foot, while a lower-floor unit in the same building traded around $4,400 per square foot.
That context matters. If Surfside's luxury buyers had simply stepped back from the market, the Delmore's silence would be easy to explain. They haven't. They're actively closing deals at buildings a few hundred feet away. What they haven't done is write a contract at a site priced at four to six times the neighborhood's own going average for finished, delivered luxury product, on a building that as of this writing still lacks a general contractor and a finalized insurance binder.
Rossely has been candid about the mismatch. "The initial soft launch we did in January 2025 was premature," he told The Real Deal. "We debated that with the sales team." He also acknowledged the deeper issue: DAMAC has built tens of thousands of units across the Middle East and London but has no completed track record in the United States. "There's a degree of reasonable skepticism so we needed to prove this was going to happen," he said.
What the Split Verdict Actually Teaches
Surf Row's path is instructive precisely because it failed once before it worked. The original 2022 concept, eight townhomes above $5 million, never converted browsers into buyers either. The difference is that its developers repriced. They shrank the units, dropped the entry point to $1.4 million, and matched the product to what Surfside's actual buyer pool, largely Northeastern relocators and second-home shoppers looking for a turnkey beach property rather than a trophy estate, was willing to spend. That reset is what got the project to 50 percent sold within roughly two years of relaunch.
The Delmore has not made that adjustment yet. Its architecture, amenity program, and address are not the obstacle. Zaha Hadid's design has generated real coverage and real interest, and the Billionaire's Triangle location between Indian Creek and Bal Harbour remains one of the most sought-after corridors in South Florida. The obstacle is that the price sits well outside what Surfside's own recent closings, including the ones setting records at the Surf Club, actually support at this stage of construction, before a general contractor is even under contract.
For anyone comparing new-construction options in Surfside right now, the lesson is not that ultra-luxury pricing never works here. Schultz's $44 million purchase proves it can. The lesson is that pricing has to be anchored to verified comparable sales in the same corridor and product tier, not to a global brand's reputation or a rendering's ambition.
What to Check Before You Sign at Any Surfside Preconstruction Project
Buyers evaluating new development in this corridor can borrow the same diligence questions a careful agent would ask on a client's behalf:
- Has the developer disclosed how many units are actually under signed contract, not just reserved or under letter of intent
- Is a general contractor under a signed agreement, and is the project's builder's risk insurance in place
- Has the master building permit been issued, or only submitted
- What is the developer's completed track record in this specific market, not internationally
- How does the per-square-foot ask compare with the most recent closed sales, not asking prices, in comparable buildings within the same half mile
None of these questions require insider access. They require asking the sales team directly and, where possible, confirming permit status against the public building department record.
A Few Questions Worth Asking
Does the Delmore's stalled sales record mean Surfside is overpriced? No. The broader market, including the Q1 2026 Corcoran figures, shows demand and pricing both moving up. The stall appears specific to this project's pricing and execution timeline rather than to the neighborhood.
When will the Delmore relaunch? DAMAC has said it is targeting the end of 2026, contingent on finalizing insurance, securing a general contractor, and resubmitting its master building permit.
Is Surf Row still available to buy into? As of August 2026 it was roughly half sold, with the remaining inventory moving through ONE Sotheby's International Realty ahead of a 2027 completion.
Surfside's newest towers are a useful reminder that a great address and a great architect are necessary conditions for a sale, not sufficient ones. If you're weighing preconstruction inventory in Surfside, Bal Harbour, or anywhere along this stretch of coast, Jennifer Brilliant can walk you through the contract velocity, permit status, and comparable closings that actually separate a project worth reserving from one still finding its price. Let's Connect.
