Quick answer: In a pre-construction purchase the payment schedule is the product, not the floor plan. Here it asks 40 per cent of the price before closing: 20 per cent at contract, then 5, 10 and 5 per cent at construction milestones. On a $2.6 million entry residence that is more than a million dollars of your capital sitting with the developer, unlevered and unlet, until the certificate of occupancy issues. Everything else about this project is excellent. That number is what you are actually underwriting.
The payment schedule, in the order you pay it
| Stage | Share of price | On a $2.6m residence |
|---|---|---|
| At contract | 20% | $520,000 |
| At groundbreaking | 5% | $130,000 |
| At twentieth-floor pour | 10% | $260,000 |
| At top-off | 5% | $130,000 |
| Committed before closing | 40% | $1,040,000 |
| Balance at closing | 60% | $1,560,000 |
Read that table as a capital commitment rather than as a purchase. Between contract and closing you have supplied a seven-figure sum that earns nothing, cannot be borrowed against, cannot be let, and is exposed to the developer’s completion of the building.
Three questions follow, and they are the substance of pre-construction diligence:
Where are the deposits held? Florida law provides for escrow of certain buyer deposits in condominium purchases, and the treatment differs between the portion held in escrow and the portion a developer may draw for construction. Ask which of your instalments sit in escrow and which the developer may use, and get the answer from the purchase contract rather than a sales office.
What happens if delivery slips? Contracts specify the outside date for completion and the buyer’s remedies if it passes. Read that clause before signing rather than after a delay.
What are you assuming about the market at closing? You commit at today’s price and pay 60 per cent at a date years out, by which time rates, insurance costs and comparable pricing will all have moved. A pre-construction contract is a leveraged view on Miami two or three years forward, whether or not the buyer thinks of it that way.
Delivery status is a document, not a date
The North Tower was reported as nearing completion in spring 2026 with delivery anticipated in the second quarter. Anticipated is the operative word, and by the time you read this the position may have moved in either direction.
Before contracting, ask for and verify three things in writing:
| Document | What it proves |
|---|---|
| Certificate of occupancy | the building may legally be occupied |
| Recorded declaration of condominium | the association legally exists |
| Turnover status | whether the developer still controls the board |
That last one matters more than buyers expect. Until turnover the developer controls the association, sets the first budget and commissions the first reserve study. A budget written by a party that wants sales to close is not always the budget an independent board would adopt, and first-year dues in new Miami towers have a habit of rising once control passes to owners. Ask what the developer’s projected budget assumes for insurance in particular, because that is the line that has repriced hardest since 2022 and the one most often understated in a pro forma.
A third tower is coming
In June 2025 Melo Group submitted plans to Miami’s Urban Development Review Board for Aria Reserve Skyclub, a third tower on the same site.
For a buyer in the first two towers that has two consequences and both belong in the decision.
The first is construction. A tower of this scale takes years, and a resident of the North or South tower will live alongside a site for a meaningful part of their early ownership. Noise, dust, crane operations and construction traffic are temporary, but “temporary” here means years rather than months.
The second is supply. Every completed tower on the parcel adds residences that compete with yours for the same tenants and the same buyers, with the same views, the same amenities and the same address. Two towers of 782 residences is already substantial standing inventory for one site. A third adds to it.
Neither point argues against buying. Both argue for asking specific questions: the projected construction period, the expected residence count in the third tower, and whether any construction easement or shared-cost arrangement affects the first two towers’ associations.
What the project is, once the finance is settled
The architecture and the position are genuinely strong. Two 62-storey towers on the Edgewater waterfront, described as the tallest waterfront residential twin towers in the United States, by Arquitectonica with interiors by Morada Haute Design and landscape by ArquitectonicaGEO.
The residence tiers are stratified by floor rather than by finish:
| Tier | Floors |
|---|---|
| Panoramic Residences | 3 to 56 |
| Skyview Villas | 47 to 56 |
| Penthouse Residences | 57 to 59 |
| Tri-Level Penthouse Mansions | 60 to 62 |
There is no entry-level unit. Pricing starts near $2.6 million, which places this above One Paraiso on the same waterfront and far above the district’s older stock such as Quantum on the Bay. Edgewater now spans a very wide price band within a few blocks, and a buyer should be clear which end they are buying into and why.
A 2026 completion puts the SB 4-D milestone trigger near 2051, which removes the structural question entirely for any realistic hold. That is the compensation for the delivery and deposit risk: you are trading one category of risk for another rather than avoiding risk.
Financing a pre-construction purchase
The financing question in pre-construction is different from the one in a resale, and it is often misunderstood.
You are not financing at contract. You are committing 40 per cent of the price from cash across the construction period and financing the 60 per cent balance at closing, at rates and on terms that will exist then rather than now. No lender commits today to a loan that funds in two years, so the interest rate risk on the majority of the purchase sits with the buyer.
Ask a lender for an indicative view early even so, because project eligibility in a brand-new condominium is decided partly by pre-sale ratios, investor concentration and the completeness of the association documents. If the project turns out to be non-warrantable at closing, the routes are cash, portfolio lending or a DSCR loan underwritten on rent at a larger deposit, and overseas buyers work through foreign national mortgage programmes. Discovering that at closing, with 40 per cent already committed, is the worst moment to discover it.
Insurance is the other forward-looking line. Master policies sit inside the dues and coastal premiums have risen every year since 2022, so the developer’s projected figure is a forecast rather than a quote. See the Florida property insurance guide for how those lines behave, and the Edgewater area page for the district picture.
Verification checklist before you sign
- Get the full deposit schedule in the contract and confirm which instalments are escrowed and which the developer may draw.
- Read the outside completion date and the buyer’s remedies if it passes.
- Confirm the current certificate of occupancy status for the tower you are buying in.
- Ask whether the association has turned over to owner control, and if not, when it is expected to.
- Compare the developer’s projected budget with any adopted budget, line by line, with attention to insurance.
- Ask the projected construction period and residence count for the third tower.
- Get an indicative lender view on project eligibility now, not at closing.
- Confirm the rental rules in the recorded declaration. In a new project these are set by the developer and are not always what the sales office describes.
Which buyer this project suits
It suits a cash-strong buyer who wants a new waterfront residence at the top of the Edgewater market, can place 40 per cent for the construction period without needing it, and intends to hold long enough that a 2051 milestone and a neighbouring construction site are both irrelevant.
It suits a leveraged or short-horizon buyer poorly. The capital commitment before closing is large and idle, the balance is financed at unknown future rates, and the resale market at delivery will include every other buyer in an 782-residence project who reaches the same conclusion at the same time. That last pattern is visible in delivered Miami towers already, and it is the risk that pre-construction marketing never mentions.
Frequently Asked Questions
For the North Tower the published structure is 20% of the purchase price at contract, 5% at groundbreaking, 10% at the twentieth-floor pour, 5% at top-off, and the remaining 60% at closing. That means 40% of the price is committed before you take title, which on a $2.6 million entry residence is over $1 million of capital placed with the developer ahead of delivery.
North Tower delivery was anticipated for the second quarter of 2026 and the tower was reported as nearing completion in spring 2026. Confirm the current certificate of occupancy status directly before contracting, because a published anticipated date and an issued certificate are different things.
Two towers of 62 storeys holding 782 residences in total, described as the tallest waterfront residential twin towers in the United States. The North Tower carries about 399 of those residences. The Melo Group is the developer, with architecture by Arquitectonica, interiors by Morada Haute Design and landscape by ArquitectonicaGEO.
Yes. Melo Group submitted plans to Miami's Urban Development Review Board in June 2025 for a third tower on the site, known as Aria Reserve Skyclub. A buyer in the first two towers should factor in several more years of adjacent construction and, eventually, more competing inventory on the same parcel.
Pricing starts from about $2.6 million. Layouts run one to four bedrooms across Panoramic Residences on floors 3 to 56, Skyview Villas on floors 47 to 56, Penthouse Residences on 57 to 59 and Tri-Level Penthouse Mansions on 60 to 62. There is no low-priced entry unit in this project.
A 2026 completion places the 25-year coastal trigger near 2051. The structural question is irrelevant for any realistic hold. The risks in a project at this stage are delivery, deposit exposure and the construction still to come next door, not concrete.
Get the Aria Reserve contract terms reviewed before you sign
Tell us which tower and residence tier you are considering. We will come back with the deposit schedule and escrow treatment as written, the outside completion date and remedies, current delivery status, the developer's projected budget, and what the third tower means for your timeline.