You worked hard for that Aston Martin, so it’s no surprise you are loath to leave it for pedestrian activities such as eating, sleeping, and massage therapy. With that in mind, the marque — like its seats sculpted of swaths of Bridge of Weir leather — has got your back.
Aston Martin, the car company and emergent lifestyle brand is slated to build a new 66-storey waterfront tower in downtown Miami. The sail-shaped affair, to be named Aston Martin Residences, is sited at 300 Biscayne Boulevard Way, on the intersection of the Miami River and Biscayne Bay, where it cannot help but become a focus of the skyline. That particular piece of property — all 1.25 acres of it — sold for $125m (about £101m) two years ago to the Coto family, an Argentine real-estate development concern that brought in Aston Martin as designing partner and lodestar.
This works well for Aston, which launched its “Art of Living” strategy four years ago. At the time, that meant mere licensing of the name to some very high-end furniture, but this year saw the co-development of the remarkable (and £1m+) AM37 speedboat. It’s a small but showy reach from there into luxury real estate, and from automobile cockpits into the design of everyday living.
Why Miami? The city, the centre of a metropolitan area that is home to some 5.5m people, is a global capital in a way New York and London are not, in that cars — and car-branding — figure prominently in the urban experience. If a high-end car company wants to expand its lifestyle brand to an international clientele, it can do worse than hoisting a giant sail on the Miami skyline. Aston Martin’s design team will put their mark and plenty of winged logos on all of the building's interior spaces, which will include two private lobbies, a two-level fitness center and spa, seven penthouses and a giant duplex penthouse (all with private pools), and somewhere south of 400 condominiums. Oh, and a marina sized for megayachts.
Katia Bassi, Aston Martin VP and Managing Director of AM Brands, says “The Art of Living philosophy will encompass everything from the design finishes and materials used in the building, to the high level of personalised service offered at the tower's exclusive spa, infinity pool, and yacht marina.” The few peeks we have at the design thus far include “doors with bespoke artisan Aston Martin handles and number plinths, and kestrel tan leather door tabs,” though one can imagine individual suites offering “the engineered precision of Iridium, intricate Satin Cuprum Carbon Fibre or the lighter, more individual Piano Ice Mocha finishes,” and other of the endless options available to match your DB11.
Parking is tough in Miami, so one assumes some accommodation for residents’ vehicles — if not in the manner of the proposed nearby Porsche Design Tower, which literally elevates its ostentatiousness. Details of the Residence are still sketches at the moment, pending a grand unveiling of a sales office next March. At current market rates (which the development plans to be at the top of), we’d speculate starting prices to be just shy of the $10m (£8m) mark. But that depends on who else is speculating at the time.
The property is planned to open in 2021, assuming Miami is still above water at that point.
