Drilling equipment and excavators are now working the ground at 1600 Northeast 2nd Avenue in Miami, where foundation piling has begun on a 33-story residential tower that will eventually rise roughly 384 feet above the Omni District. The project, known as 1600 Edgewater, is set to bring 282 rental units, a rooftop pool, and a rooftop restaurant to a half-acre lot that sat vacant after the demolition of the low-rise commercial structures that once occupied the site.
As reported by Florida YIMBY, the site preparation and foundation permits have already cleared the city, and construction crews have moved into what the outlet describes as the first major stage before the reinforced concrete superstructure goes up. The building’s master permit, however, tells a more complicated story: according to Floridian Development, that permit, covering an estimated $93 million in construction costs, remained under review for developer corrections as of earlier this month even as foundation drilling advanced.
Miami’s phased permitting process allows exactly this kind of overlap. The city permits high-rise builds in stages, so site prep and foundation drilling can move forward before the master permit clears in full, per Floridian Development’s reporting. The master permit itself covers nearly 500,000 square feet of construction, according to the site’s own facts, with the vertical construction permit already approved even as the broader document awaits sign-off.
From Go-Kart Track to 33-Story Tower
The site’s path to this point stretches back to 2022, when the family-owned Sabet Group, led by Andre and Edward Sabetfard, bought the roughly half-acre parcel for $14.3 million. It was the firm’s first Miami project, expanding a California- and New York-based commercial development operation with more than 35 years of experience into South Florida, according to The Real Deal…