Estates at Acqualina

One Hundred Forty-Nine Homes, and the Two-Tower Question

I pulled all 151 folios the Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser holds at 17901 Collins Avenue under the 777 Via Acqualina Condo declaration. Two are not homes — one is coded restaurant and carries a 2026 assessed value of $13,200,000 on its own, the other is a common-area and roadway folio — leaving 149 residential homes. The declaration’s undivided common-element shares close complete.

Now the thing I could not settle, and would rather flag than paper over. Trade reporting describes Estates at Acqualina as a two-tower complex. The county’s declaration carries 149 homes running from floor 4 to floor 35, and no unit number appears twice — which is what you would expect from one tower, not two. I looked for a second declaration at this address and in the surrounding folio range and did not find one. So: 149 homes is what the county records here and what every figure below describes. If a second declaration exists under another name, it is not in this pull, and I would rather tell you that than quietly present part of a complex as the whole of it.

The homes are large. 2,616 to 9,993 square feet, median 3,484, and the bed mix confirms it: 84 four-bedrooms, 27 three-bedrooms, 25 five-bedrooms and 2 six-bedrooms, with bedroom counts missing from the county’s file on the remaining 11. Six floorplates cover 131 of the 149 homes, led by the 2,987 sq ft plan at 47 homes.

On the 2026 tax roll the 149 homes are assessed between $2,662,000 and $30,900,000, median $5,520,588 — an eleven-to-one spread, which is unusually wide and is a straightforward consequence of a building that holds both 2,616 sq ft apartments and near-10,000 sq ft penthouses.

Storey count, architect and amenity detail are not in the property record. What the sale file does establish is the timing: 130 of this building’s 169 qualified sales closed in 2022, and the county records none at all before that year — 130, then 18, 8, 11 and 2.

The Rate Went Up. The Price Went Down. Trust the Rate.

The two columns disagree and the disagreement is the story. From 2023 to 2026 the median sale price falls 13.1%; median price per square foot rises 29.4%. Both cannot be describing the same market, and the reason they diverge is size: the median home that sold in 2024 was 5,638 square feet, and in 2026 it is 3,395. Smaller homes traded, so the price median fell — while the rate per foot each of those homes achieved kept climbing.

The defensible statement is the middle of the table, where the volume is: median price per square foot rose 26.4% between 2023 and 2025, from $1,942 to $2,454, across 18 and 11 sales respectively. That is a real move on real volume. 2026 rests on two sales and I would not read anything into it either way.

Across the four years, 39 qualified sales produced a median of $10,075,000 and $2,343 per square foot, in a band of $1,207 to $2,989. Thirty-nine sales against 149 homes is one home in 15 each year — busier than most buildings at this price, which is what you would expect from a tower that only finished in 2022 and is still working through its first ownership cycle.

Two deeds in the 2023 row deserve a note, because on a smaller building they would have mattered. Unit TS07 recorded two qualified deeds six days apart — $18,500,000 on 5 December 2023 and $13,995,000 on 11 December 2023 — and unit 1901 recorded two on the same day, $6,500,000 and $6,000,000 on 12 October 2023. Those are conveyance artefacts rather than two separate arm’s-length trades. Here they change nothing: drop the earlier leg of each and 2023’s medians are identical. Eighteen sales is enough depth to absorb them. I am pointing them out because on a thinner year they would have moved the number, and a buyer should know they are in the file.

The record sale is $26,000,000 on 18 September 2024 — unit PH-02, 8,698 square feet, $2,989 per square foot, which is also the highest rate the county records in this building.

It is one of the ten buildings whose county-verified record I track on my most expensive Miami apartments page.

What Are the Lawsuits at Estates at Acqualina About?

Construction — first between the developer and its builder, and now between the developer and two of its buyers.

The developer, an affiliate of the Aventura-based Trump Group led by Jules and Eddie Trump — not related to President Donald Trump — completed the project in 2022 while in litigation with its then general contractor, Suffolk Construction. That case and its counter-claim have been running for five years in Miami-Dade Circuit Court over delays, payment, the quality of the work and the construction workforce. The developer fired the contractor in 2023, a year after both sides went to court.

In February and March 2026, two buyers filed separate suits in the same court, seeking unspecified damages and alleging they had not been able to enjoy the units they bought.

The 2 February complaint, from the owner of a four-bedroom home on the 18th floor, alleges the family lived in what it calls “a constant construction zone infested with mold, flood damage, leaks, cracked flooring, rusted pipes and broken elevators” — the owner has clarified to the trade press that this referred to the common areas — and that most of the amenities, including a golf simulator, a wellness centre, a soccer field, a trading room and a dog park, were unusable between 2022 and 2025 because of construction defects. The complaint claims the owner lost $1,000,000 on the eventual sale because 20 to 25 showings produced no willing buyer amid the scaffolding.

The 23 March complaint, from an entity that paid $10,600,000 for a roughly 5,000 square foot home, alleges the unit was incomplete when it closed in 2024, that an elevator system was repaired for a week and then failed again, and that the developer’s crews used an adjacent terrace and private pool as a staging area for a year after closing while the entity was still billed $12,000 a month in assessments, which it says it has not paid since August 2024.

The developer disputes this. Its spokesperson told the trade press that it “has consistently acted in good faith and responded to unit-related matters in a timely and professional manner,” that any outstanding concerns “were not brought to our attention through the proper channels,” that the balcony restriction was necessary overhead protection expressly permitted under the condominium’s governing documents, and that the unit in the second case was unoccupied for a significant period during the owner’s own interior renovations. These are allegations and responses in pending litigation. Nothing here has been adjudicated.

Now the part I can add, because it is on the public record and it cuts both ways. The 18th-floor four-bedroom in the first complaint is identifiable from the reported sale: it sold for $7,500,000 on 29 July 2025. The county’s file for that same home also shows a qualified sale at $4,653,000 on 3 August 2022 and, between the two, a 6 February 2023 deed recorded at $0 and flagged by the county as corrective, tax or quitclaim with minimum consideration. That is why no 2023 purchase price appears in the public record — the transfer carried no stated consideration — and the reported $7,700,000 figure comes from the Multiple Listing Service rather than from the county. The practical consequence for a reader: the $1,000,000 loss claimed in that complaint cannot be tested against the public record at all, in either direction. I am not saying it is wrong. I am saying the county cannot confirm it, and anyone repeating either the $200,000 or the $1,000,000 figure should know which source it comes from.

What this should mean for a buyer here is narrow and practical. Ask the association for the current status of the developer-contractor litigation, for any construction-defect claim the association itself has made or is considering, for the reserve study, and for the record of amenity availability over the last three years. Those are ordinary requests and the answers are specific.

Who This Building Suits, and Who It Suits Badly

It suits a buyer who wants genuine scale on the ocean and wants it now rather than in four years. The median home is 3,484 square feet and 84 of the 149 are four-bedrooms — this is a building of large family homes, not investor studios, and the price record shows the rate per foot climbing 26.4% across 2023 to 2025. It also suits a buyer who wants activity: one home in 15 trades each year, which is unusually liquid at this price level.

It suits badly a buyer who wants a settled building. It completed in 2022, the developer and its original contractor have been in court for five years, and two owners filed suit in the first quarter of this year alleging that defects and repair work made their homes unusable. Whatever the merits — and they are unresolved — the practical fact is that this building’s construction history is still being litigated.

It suits badly, too, anyone judging it on price medians. The homes range from 2,616 to 9,993 square feet and the assessment spread is eleven to one; a median sale price here is averaging assets that are not comparable.

If you are selling, price off your own floorplate against the $1,207 to $2,989 four-year band, and be prepared for a buyer’s agent to raise the litigation. The straight version is better for you than the headline: the suits are two owners, the developer has answered them publicly, and the county’s own record shows the rate per foot in this building rising through the entire period the complaints describe.

Interested in buying at Estates at Acqualina?

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The Estates at Acqualina Amenities

45,000 SQUARE FEET OF AWESOME

A lifestyle that is all about unforgettable experiences from the ice-skating rink, the bowling lanes, the movie theater, the Formula One racing simulator and the Wall Street Traders Club to the soccer, basketball and bocce playing areas, the FlowRider wave simulator, the multiple pools, and the European-inspired gardens. And the house car is a red Rolls Royce. Welcome home. To the life you’ve always wanted to live.

• Ice-skating rink
• Golf simulator
• Wall Street Trader’s Clubroom
• Cigar Lounge & Billiards room
• Teen game area
• AcquaFit Fitness & Wellness Center
• Wine Room
• Private poolside cabanas
• Bocce court
• Basketball Court
• Sculptured art gardens
• Outdoor pool table
• Meditation areas
• Bowling alley with 4 lanes
• Formula One racing simulator
• Movie-screening theater
• Children’s play areaRelaxation lounge
• Speakeasy Disco
• Zero-entry, infinity-edge and adults-only pools
• FlowRider® surfing simulator
• Soccer field
• Walking and jogging trails
• Dog park
• Gazebos

Interested in selling at Estates at Acqualina?

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