Brickell is an urban neighborhood of Greater DowntownMiami, Florida. Directly south of the historic CBD, Brickell is Miami and South Florida‘s major financial district. Brickell was settled in the modern era in the mid-19th century by early pioneers, growing to become Miami’s “Millionaire’s Row” in the early 20th century after the construction of lavish mansions along Brickell Avenue by Mary Brickell. By the 1970s, office towers, hotels and apartments began replacing the historic mansions. Today, Brickell has grown to overtake the city’s historic central business district to the north, as one of the largest financial districts in the United States. With a fast-growing residential population, Brickell is one of Miami’s fastest-growing as well as its most dense neighborhood.
Brickell lies south of the Miami River, extending south to SW 26th Road (the Rickenbacker Causeway), and is mostly mixed financial and residential north of Broadway (SW 15th Road), and mostly residential south of Broadway. Brickell is home to 31,759 year-round residents. The area of Brickell south of Broadway is mainly low and mid-rise residential buildings west of Brickell Avenue and high-rise residential to the east of Brickell Avenue. This area of Brickell includes the “Millionaires’ Row” section of Brickell Avenue, home to many expensive residences, and home to many of Miami’s most expensive apartments and condominiums, as well as some iconic Miami skyscrapers, such as the Atlantis Condominium. Although Brickell has traditionally been known as a financial district, in recent years, construction of numerous condominium and apartment towers in Brickell, has extended the upscale residential neighborhood feel of lower Brickell into upper Brickell. Recent construction in Brickell has also enlarged the urban core of Brickell from Brickell Avenue west to the Metrorail line, with new office and residential towers, such as Axis at Brickell Village. At the center of Brickell is Mary Brickell Village, with an assortment of restaurants, boutiques, services that create a gathering area for high-class retail and restaurants. Some the best and most well-known names are leasing space in the project. The project is designed after a French-style village and attracts social gathering and entertainment.
Historically, all of Brickell was a wealthy suburb. As the downtown area expanded, the northeastern part of Brickell adopted high-density zoning that allowed high rise construction centered around Brickell Avenue, while south of 15th Street zoning remains highly limited with the exception of the very coastline east of Brickell Avenue. West of the Metrorail line, “west Brickell” melded with Little Havana until sweeping gentrification took place in the 2010s. The subdivisions of Brickell are recognized by the Downtown Development Authority.
West Brickell is a sub-neighborhood of Brickell, west of the Metrorail line (SW 1st Avenue), and east of I-95, south of the Miami River, and north of SE 15th Road (Broadway). It is primarily a residential neighborhood, made up mostly of low to mid-rise apartment buildings. In the 2010s Miami condominium boom that began in 2012, interest in Brickell spilled over into West Brickell, with mid-century and prewar buildings being replaced by larger buildings. However, they included affordable housing and were generally non-luxury.
Brickell was often referred to as the “Brickell Financial District”, or just “Financial District”, during the time of large-scale commercial office development, including major banks building headquarters there. The “financial district” area is what today comprises the core of Brickell, which has become overtaken by high rise residential buildings, and is hence referred to as simply “Brickell”.
With rapid urbanization over the decades, very little remains of the original character of Brickell. Brickell was originally platted for mansions and large homes by Mary Brickell, which thus led to the name “Millionaire’s Row.” With the growth of the city, especially in the 1970s onwards, Brickell’s character began to change with the construction of high-rise office towers along Brickell Avenue, and high-rise residential towers in lower Brickell, south of SE 15th Road (Broadway). A commercial boom in the 1980s, brought mass construction of office towers to Brickell, and subsequent construction, would further change the neighborhood into the dense, urban, residential and commercial neighborhood it is today. Some of the historic buildings remaining in Brickell can be seen in the photos below. While not a registered historic landmark, Brickell is home to Tobacco Road, which claimed to be Miami’s oldest bar, in business since 1912, with a now-demolished building built in 1915 (Downtown Miami Historic District).
