One of Miami\u2019s most luxurious hotels, the 23-story Mandarin Oriental on Brickell Key, will be brought down on Sunday in under half a minute in one of the largest Miami demolitions in years.<\/p>\n
Rising in its place will be a complex even more luxurious, with an expensive hotel and private residences for the super-wealthy.<\/p>\n
This weekend\u2019s implosion will shut down access to Brickell Key. Evacuations aren\u2019t required, but neighboring residents will have a window in which to leave the island before the 8:30 a.m. implosion and dust-cloud fallout. People who leave the area can return at 1:30 p.m., when traffic patterns also return to normal.<\/p>\n
People who live in a designated \u201cexclusion zone\u201d closest to the implosion site must close their windows and doors tightly and stay inside. They should also move pets and plants inside until the dust clears.<\/p>\n
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The Mandarin Oriental didn\u2019t even last three decades as Miami continues to reinvent itself. Construction of a new, smaller hotel by the same owners, Swire Properties, will begin later this year. A residential tower will also be built on the property.<\/p>\n
Plans call for The Residences at Mandarin Oriental, Miami, to be complete in 2030. The complex will be a mix of hotel rooms and private residences, with the developers catering to the high-end luxury condo market and the super wealthy.<\/p>\n
The north tower, site of the old hotel, will include the new Mandarin Oriental hotel. That building will have 121 guest rooms and suites, about a third of the 326 rooms in the former hotel that will become a pile of dust on Sunday morning.<\/p>\n
Going smaller allows the hotel to charge higher rates, Henry Bott, former president of Swire, told the Miami Herald in 2025. Doing so \u201cmakes it a more profitable product.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bott, who stepped down as president this year, acknowledged that since 2023 at the hotel, occupancy, average daily rate and revenue generated per room have not been great. \u201cThose rates are not trending upwards the past two years,\u201d the Swire executive said. \u201cWe\u2019re missing out on maximizing the full potential.\u201d<\/p>\n
The south tower, which will rise at the same time, will have 228 condos that are already for sale. Price ranges from $4.9 million to $100 million for the penthouse.<\/p>\n
While the hotel will be smaller, the new towers will be taller: the north tower will be 34 stories and the south tower will be 66 stories.<\/p>\n
![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/MIA_123MandarinHotel16NEWPP.jpeg\" "\\"MIA_123MandarinHotel16NEWPP\\"")
An evening view of The Mandarin Oriental, Miami on Thursday May 15, 2025. . Pedro Portal pportal@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n
At 8:30 a.m. April 12, the 25-year-old hotel and adjacent parking structure will be brought down in a controlled implosion, led by Swire.<\/p>\n
The implosion, in which a building collapses on itself, will be coordinated by BG Group, Controlled Demolition Inc, Moss Construction, and other engineering consultants, in collaboration with the City of Miami.<\/p>\n
The owners say they have spent almost two years of planning and coordinating with the city of Miami. They selected implosion as a method because they felt it to be \u201cthe safest and most efficient method to maintain the project timeline while minimizing disruption and ensuring the continued safety of the Brickell Key community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Timeline for the hotel implosion ![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/MIA_107MandarinHotel16NEWPP.jpeg\" "\\"MIA_107MandarinHotel16NEWPP\\"")
The Mandarin Oriental in Brickell will be demolished next year to make way for condos and a new hotel. Pedro Portal pportal@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n
The developers provided the following timeline:<\/p>\n
4:00 a.m.: Final setup of barricades and signs around \u201cexclusion zone.\u201d<\/p>\n
6:30 a.m.: Residents who want to leave the Brickell Key island must do so before 7 a.m.<\/p>\n
7:30 a.m.: Traffic in and out of the island will be restricted, except for emergencies.<\/p>\n
8 a.m.: BKMA to send emergency text messages to residents announcing the beginning of the 30-minute countdown.<\/p>\n
8:15 a.m.: BG Group will turn on dust suppression systems.<\/p>\n
8:28 a.m: Two five-second-long sirens will sound indicating two-minute countdown to the implosion. BKMA to send emergency text messages to residents.<\/p>\n
8:29 a.m: Three one-second-long sirens will sound indicating the implosion is imminent.<\/p>\n
8:30: Implosion initiated and building will fall in 20 seconds.<\/p>\n
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