Between the ocean and the Intracoastal
The City of Sunny Isles Beach occupies 1.78 square miles in the northeastern corner of Miami-Dade County, on a barrier island with the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Intracoastal Waterway to the west. It has been developed primarily for residential use. Golden Beach is to the north, Aventura and North Miami Beach lie across the Intracoastal, and Haulover Park is to the south.
Collins Avenue is the main road through the city. Sunny Isles Boulevard, State Road 826, leads west into North Miami Beach, and the William Lehman Causeway, State Road 856, leads west into Aventura from the north end.
From Motel Row to the skyline
In 1920 Harvey Baker Graves bought a tract of 2.26 square miles here to develop as a tourist resort, and the area opened up to Miami Beach when the Haulover bridge was completed in 1925. It was known as North Miami Beach until 1931 and as Sunny Isles until 1997, the year the city was incorporated.
The first single-family homes were built in the Golden Shores area in the 1950s. Through the 1950s and 1960s more than 30 motels went up along Collins Avenue, among them the Ocean Palm, described as the first two-story motel in the country. Major redevelopment from the early 2000s, mostly high-rise condominiums and some hotels on the beach side of Collins, replaced most of those one- and two-story motels. The city now has the 14th tallest skyline in the United States.
The towers
Regalia, on the northern border along A1A, and The Mansions at Acqualina, next to the Acqualina Resort & Spa, both began construction in 2011. The Porsche Design Tower was completed in January 2017 and stands 641 feet over 60 stories. Its robotic garage lifts drivers in their cars by elevator to a garage beside their unit.
The city itself
Sunny Isles Beach has a mayor-commission-manager form of government, and its water and sewer service comes from NMB Water. The city lists 10 lifeguard towers on its beach. The half-mile Sunny Isles Pier, designated a historic site in 1982, was remodeled after damage from Hurricane Wilma and reopened as Newport Fishing Pier on June 15, 2013.
Worth weighing before you buy
- The building’s certificate of occupancy date, which starts the 30 years to its first milestone inspection. Much of the skyline dates from the redevelopment that began in the early 2000s.
- Whether the association funds its reserves in full: for budgets adopted from December 31, 2024, owners in an association that must have a structural integrity reserve study can no longer vote to fund less than it requires.
- For a tower sold before it is finished, Florida’s deposit rules: payments up to 10 percent of the price go into escrow, and more may fund construction only if the contract says so on its first page.
