Florida Construction News staff writer
Construction is underway on Sweetbird North, an eight-storey mixed-use office and retail building that will add about 120,000 sq. ft. to Miami’s Design District.
Miami Design District Associates and Raycliff Capital are developing the project at 95 NE 40th St. Snøhetta designed the building and KAST Construction is serving as general contractor.
Sweetbird North will contain more than 92,000 square feet of office space and about 22,500 sq. ft. of retail space across the ground and second floors. Completion is expected in early 2028.
The building’s most prominent construction feature will be a custom stainless-steel mesh facade wrapped around the structure. The coiled mesh will be tensioned over a structural frame and will function as a sunshade, guardrail and hurricane-resistant exterior screen.
Behind the mesh, exposed concrete bays and cantilevered scalloped terraces will vary in length and geometry from floor to floor. The screen will appear more transparent when viewed directly and more opaque from an angle, while reducing solar heat gain and allowing extensive use of glazing.
Construction crews have moved into site and foundation work following the Sept. 30 groundbreaking. A full-scale mock-up of the facade veil is planned as part of the construction process, with installation of the stainless-steel screen scheduled for the later stages of the project.
Sweetbird North is one of the larger vertical developments underway in the Design District, where new office and mixed-use projects are adding density to a neighbourhood historically dominated by low-rise retail and commercial buildings.