The city of Miami, Florida has the third-tallest skyline in the United States (after New York City and Chicago) with 439 high-rises, over 100 of which stand taller than 400 ft and 70 which are taller than 491 ft. The tallest building in the city is the 85-story Panorama Tower, which rises 868 ft in Miami's Brickell district and surpassed all other buildings in height when it topped out in 2017. Nine of the ten tallest buildings in Florida are located in Miami. Overall, the skyline of Miami ranks as the fourth largest in North America and the 29th largest in the world.

History

Miami's Skyscraper boom began in 1912 with the six story Burdine's Department Store, becoming the first skyscraper in Miami. The McAllister Hotel later opened on December 31, 1919, becoming the largest building in Miami located at Flagler Street and Biscayne Blvd, holding the title of tallest building until 1925. The Freedom Tower, built in 1925, is Miami's best-known early skyscraper and remains an icon of the city. From the mid-1990s through the late 2000s, Miami went through the largest building boom in the city's history. In what was dubbed a "Manhattanization wave", there were nearly 60 structures proposed, approved or under construction in the city that were planned to rise over 492 ft in height. As a result of the construction boom, only two of the city's 25 tallest buildings were completed before the year 2000, and the city has the third-largest skyline in the United States, generally ranking only behind New York City and Chicago. The boom, however, ended abruptly around 2008 when the real estate market crashed and the late-2000s recession began. By 2011 the market began to return, with new office and condominium projects such as Brickell House announced for construction beginning in 2012. This was followed by a second boom that is currently active as of January 2019. This second boom has more proposed towers for the region than were built in the first boom from 2003 to 2010. Only 10 buildings out of 80 on the list were built before 2000, and only 18 were built before 2005.

Present

The tallest completed structure is Panorama Tower in Brickell. It reached the height taller than any other building in Miami in August 2017. The auger cast pile deep foundation system for Panorama Tower was installed by HJ Foundation, a subsidiary of Keller Group. The tallest active proposals include One Bayfront Plaza (OBP) and One Brickell City Centre (OBCC), both of which may rise over 1000 ft. One Bayfront Plaza is a mixed-use building proposed for 100 South Biscayne Boulevard, approved for construction since 2007, and scheduled to be completed as early as 2018. Since then, it has gone through several design changes and does not have a reliable construction date. By the end of 2016, there were about ten proposals for supertall buildings in downtown and Brickell. In addition to OBCC and OPB, these included The Towers by Foster + Partners, One MiamiCentral, Waldorf Astoria Miami, Capital at Brickell (CCCC Miami), World Trade Center of the Americas, Skyrise (tower), as well as the more speculative Sky Plaza and One Fifth.

FAA height limits

One Bayfront Plaza was for many years the tallest building ever to be approved for construction in the city, at the maximum FAA height limit of 1049 ft, though several other buildings were approved at similar heights in the mid-2010s. It was later reduced and is expected to rise 1010 ft, with 80 floors. It also has the distinction of being the first skyscraper over 1,000 feet (305 m), known as a "supertall", to be approved in Miami. Several other buildings have been proposed to rise over 1000 ft, including One Brickell City Centre, but have been reduced by the FAA. Approvals for comparably tall buildings in Miami are very rare due to the proximity of Miami International Airport (MIA). The main runways of MIA align planes taking off and landing directly over the greater downtown area, and for this reason the Federal Aviation Administration sets precise height limits for construction in Downtown Miami. The fate of high rise construction in Miami was greatly threatened by a "One Engine Inoperative" (OEI) policy proposed by the FAA in 2014. This proposal would drastically reduce the maximum permitted height of structures around 388 airports in the country, even causing existing structures to be modified. In the end, the FAA did not go forward with the extreme limitations and even began giving quicker approvals to buildings with heights up to 1049 ft, leading to many proposed and approved supertall projects.

Tallest buildings

This lists ranks the tallest buildings in Miami that stand at least 400 ft (122 m) tall, based on standard height measurement. This includes spires and architectural details but does not include antenna masts. An equals sign (=) following a rank indicates the same height between two or more buildings. The "Year" column indicates the year in which a building was completed or topped out. Where applicable, floor counts are given by the observed measurements, as reported floor counts may include many skipped floors, not limited to floor 13.

Summary

Tallest buildings in each neighborhood

This lists the tallest building in each neighborhood, district, or sub-district of Miami. Note that all buildings over 400 ft are within the Greater Downtown area between the Julia Tuttle Causeway and Rickenbacker Causeway, east of Interstate 95. The "Year" column indicates the year in which a building was completed or topped-out for still under construction or stalled buildings.

Tallest under construction or approved

All of the planned high-rise buildings that were not constructed by the 2008 financial crisis were either put on hold or cancelled altogether until 2011 as the market was becoming stable once again.

Under construction

This lists buildings that are currently under construction in Miami and are planned to rise at least 400 feet (122 m). Buildings that have already been topped out are moved to the main list.

• Table entries with dashes (—) indicate that information regarding expected building dates of completion has not yet been released.

Approved and proposed

This list contains buildings that are approved by the city for construction and are planned to rise at least 400 feet (122 m). Many of these buildings were approved during the 2000s Miami skyscraper boom, but were put on hold during the Great Recession and have been announced to start construction in 2013 and early 2014.

Timeline of tallest buildings

There have been several buildings in Miami that have served as the tallest building in the city. While the 5-story Burdine's Department Store was the first high-rise building in the city, the Freedom Tower is generally regarded as Miami's first skyscraper. From 2003 to 2008, and again in the late 2010s and early 2020s, the Manhattanization of the city led to a huge amount of new development. Several buildings were under construction, and many that were approved or proposed could have earned the title of tallest building in the city upon completion. However, other than the Four Seasons Hotel (2003), none of them made it before the market crashed in 2007. In 2017, Panorama Tower will overtake Four Seasons as the tallest in the city and the state. In a second building boom from 2014 to 2017, many more skyscrapers in excess of 800 ft were approved by the FAA, including several 1000 ft supertalls. In 2022 the Waldorf Astoria Miami began construction as the city's first 1000 ft super tall