Major Proposed Brickell Office Tower Receives FAA Approval For Height Increase

Renowned Chicago architecture firm Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill recently filed for a larger height allowance permit with the Federal Aviation Administration for their proposed office tower at 848 Brickell Ave.

Previously approved for a structural height of 754 feet in September of 2024, the new application sought an increase to 823 feet. FAA approved the request in late April 2026 documents show.

848 Brickell is being co-developed by Chicago based developer Sterling Bay and Key International, a Miami based developer who are currently tenants of the current existing 848 Brickell office building which totals approximately 100,000 sq ft.

848 Brickell was initially proposed to be a 750,000 square foot tower in 2024. However it is is unclear how this height increase may change the marketable lease space. But height increases of this kind are usually indicative of strong lease interest or a custom request from a major tenant.

This comes on the heels of Citadel's recent announcement that they are eliminating the hotel component of their new headquarters in Brickell and expanding the amount of available office space in their tower another 400,000 square feet, bringing the total to 1.7 million square feet. Additionally, Banco Santander has a major office tower under construction in Brickell as well.

These three projects combined would bring the pipeline of new office space in Brickell to well over 3 million square feet, enough space for roughly 15,000 employees assuming a ~200 sqft Class A allotment per worker.