Yamal Yidios’ Ytech Plans Luxury Solar Condo Tower in Miami

Developer Yamal Yidios revealed plans for his luxury condominium tower on Brickell Avenue, a 70-story building with 80,000 square feet of amenities partially powered by solar energy.

Milan, Italy architecture firm ACPV Architects, led by Antonio Citterio and Patricia Viel, is designing the 189-unit tower, called The Residences at 1428 Brickell. (Citterio designed the Arte luxury condo building in Surfside, and has also designed Bulgari properties.)

Plans for the Brickell project have been years in the making for Yidios, who said he traveled to Italy to meet with the design team and select materials, and visited 250 projects and 37 architecture firms around the world as part of his research.

He tapped Cervera Real Estate to lead sales and marketing of the project. Units will be priced from $2 million to $7 million, plus penthouses asking from $8 million to more than $40 million.

Yidios said the 850-foot-tall building will mark the first high-rise residential tower in the world that uses its own solar power by integrating photovoltaic glazing in the glass facade that forms the building’s “solar backbone.” That is expected to generate about 170 megawatts of energy used partially for the amenity spaces, which will lower maintenance fees for buyers.

Arquitectonica is working with Citterio and Viel’s firm to design the building. John Moriarty Associates is the general contractor.

The Residences at 1428 Brickell’s amenities will include a wellness level, a children’s recreation and learning center, a fitness center, rooftop and lower level pools, an owners’ lounge with individual wine cellars for each resident; and two guest residences that owners can use.

Ytech paid $26.5 million for the 1.1-acre property at 1428 Brickell Avenue in early 2017, plus tens of millions of dollars more to settle claims and other issues, the developer said at the time. The existing building, home to Ytech’s office, will be torn down. It’s next to Fortune International Group’s headquarters.

Construction is expected to begin in the third quarter of next year, Yidios said. He declined to disclose how much the project will cost or if he plans to finance construction with a loan, but said Ytech’s pipeline of future projects exceeds $3 billion.

In August, Ytech acquired the historic Château Petit Douy at 1500 Brickell Avenue, with plans to restore and renovate the property. Yidios’ firm also owns the historic Nolan House building at 1548 Brickell Avenue and a development site at 75 Southwest 15th Road.

Developers are increasingly bullish on Brickell. Billionaire Ken Griffin is relocating his Chicago-based hedge fund, Citadel, and Citadel Securities to the financial district, where a number of other financial and law firms are based and have been opening offices. Citadel tapped Sterling Bay to build its headquarters on the bayfront.

Billionaire developer Stephen Ross of Related Companies and Swire Properties are also moving forward with their luxury office tower at Brickell City Centre.

On the residential front, developer Camilo Miguel’s Mast Capital is building a two-tower condo and apartment project at 1420 South Miami Avenue. The condo building will be a Cipriani Residences. Farther south, Related Group and Integra Investments plan a pair of luxury St. Regis-branded condo towers at 1809 Brickell Avenue.