A walkable island village, a Vincent Wolf-designed boutique tower, and a price ceiling that's about to be reset — The Wells is the move on Bay Harbor before the rest of the market catches up.
Key Takeaways
- The Wells is one of only two ground-up luxury condo developments breaking new pricing ground in Bay Harbor Islands in the current cycle — and it's about to reset comparable values across the island.
- At 54 residences across a low-rise design, this is built for buyers who specifically do not want to live in a 70-story Brickell tower with 600 neighbors.
- The Bay Harbor walkability + Bal Harbour Shops proximity puts this in a specific lifestyle bracket that's underpriced relative to what equivalent product costs in Sunny Isles or Bal Harbour proper.
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If you've never paid close attention to Bay Harbor Islands, here's the short version: it's a two-island village squeezed between Bal Harbour and Surfside, walking distance to the Bal Harbour Shops, with one of the best public elementary schools in the Miami-Dade system and a level of small-town walkability that doesn't really exist elsewhere in Miami's beach corridor.
For decades it was a quiet residential pocket priced well below its more famous neighbors. That changed in 2023, when developers started looking at it seriously. In 2026, The Wells is the tower that's positioned to reset Bay Harbor's price ceiling — and to do it in a boutique, low-density format that frankly nobody else is offering at this scale anywhere on the Miami beach side of the bay.
I'm Partnership Realty, Miami's #1 real estate agent for buyers, investors, and business owners. This is what serious buyers need to know about The Wells in 2026.
The Project, in Plain English
The Wells Bay Harbor Islands is a 54-residence boutique condominium by Constellation Group, the same developer behind CORA Merrick Park in Coral Gables (which I covered in "CORA Merrick Park: The Boutique Coral Gables Tower From Constellation Group That Quietly Broke Ground in Miami's Most Conservative Luxury Market"). They specialize in boutique, low-density, design-forward product in established neighborhoods rather than mega-tower spec plays.
Interiors are by Vincent Wolf Associates — one of those names that doesn't get tossed around on every Brickell project. Wolf's portfolio is tilted toward bespoke residential commissions for collectors and serious design clients, and his presence on this project tells you what kind of buyer Constellation is targeting.
The site itself is on the western side of East Bay Harbor Drive, with bay-facing exposures and walkability to both the Kane Concourse retail strip and the bridge over to Bal Harbour. That bridge matters — it puts The Wells five minutes from the Bal Harbour Shops and roughly seven from St. Regis Residences Bal Harbour territory, but with a meaningfully different price per square foot.
Pricing and Floor Plans
Pricing on The Wells starts in the $1.5M range for two-bedroom residences and moves up into the $4M-$6M range for the larger units and select waterfront-facing penthouses. Per-square-foot pricing is positioned roughly 25-35% below comparable Bal Harbour Shops-adjacent product, which is the key arbitrage in this whole submarket.
Most floor plans run 1,400 to 2,800 SqFt. The unit mix is intentionally biased toward two and three-bedroom layouts — this is not an investor-flip building with hundreds of micro-studios. The buyer profile Constellation is targeting is the primary-home or pied-à-terre buyer who wants 2,000 SqFt of well-designed space rather than 750 SqFt of yield product.
Amenities are appropriately scaled for a 54-unit building: rooftop pool, fitness studio, residents' lounge, private dining room, concierge — without the resort-scale wellness floors that drive up HOA fees in larger towers. Expect HOA dues in the $1.50-$2.00 per SqFt monthly range, which is mid-tier for a Miami luxury condo and reasonable for boutique buildings.
- Miami Market Snapshot — June 2026:
- Bay Harbor Islands median condo sale price: approximately $1.1M (up ~5.8% YoY — among the strongest in the Miami beach corridor)
- Adjacent Bal Harbour median condo sale price: approximately $2.6M
- Sunny Isles Beach median condo sale price: approximately $1.45M
- Miami-Dade condo inventory: roughly 13 months of supply overall, but boutique sub-100-unit beach product remains under 4 months
- Active Bay Harbor Islands new-development units in the launch-to-pre-sale phase: under 200 across all developers
The Investment Case, Honestly
There are three reasons The Wells is interesting in 2026.
First, the location arbitrage. Bay Harbor Islands sits inside the school zone of Ruth K. Broad Bay Harbor K-8 Center — one of the highest-ranked public elementary/middle schools in Miami-Dade. That single fact pushes residential values structurally higher than would otherwise be the case for a market this small. The Wells is essentially the only ground-up luxury condo product in this school zone currently in pre-construction.
Second, the supply constraint. Bay Harbor Islands is geographically tiny — two islands totaling about 0.4 square miles. There is no meaningful undeveloped land. Every new condo in this submarket effectively replaces something older and smaller, and the pipeline of new buildings is small enough that supply will remain tight for the foreseeable future.
Third, the pricing position. At a starting per-square-foot in the $1,000-$1,250 range, The Wells is meaningfully below the Bal Harbour Shops-side comparables and roughly in line with the better Sunny Isles product — but with a more curated, lower-density feel.
For the same buyer who would normally consider Sunny Isles, this is a different lifestyle bet. Sunny Isles is high-rise oceanfront with 5,000-person buildings. Bay Harbor is village-scale residential. Different buyer, different end-state.
I covered the surrounding context in "Living in Sunny Isles Beach 2026: The Miami Neighborhood Guide for Luxury Buyers, International Investors, and Business Owners" — read both side by side if you're weighing the two markets.
Who This Tower Is Actually For
The Wells is built for three buyer profiles in particular.
The primary-residence family who wants the school district and the walkability. The Ruth Broad school zone is the single biggest non-negotiable for many of these buyers, and The Wells offers them a brand-new product within that zone without having to buy and renovate a 1950s ranch house.
The pied-à-terre buyer from the Northeast or LATAM who wants a smaller-scale, low-density Miami home. New York, Boston, and Connecticut relocators who don't want Brickell. The boutique low-rise feel reads to them more like the Hamptons or Aspen than like downtown Miami. For the move-from-NY context, my piece "Relocating to Miami from New York: The 2026 Honest Guide for People Actually Moving Their Lives" gives the broader frame.
The downsizing established Miami family who's selling the Pinecrest or Coral Gables single-family but doesn't want a Brickell tower. The Wells is intentionally formatted to feel like the houses these buyers are leaving — larger units, lower density, more privacy, less elevator wait.
Risks Worth Knowing
Two specifics deserve attention.
First, the Bay Harbor Islands market is small. There are not hundreds of comparable resales each year to anchor pricing. Liquidity on resale is real but slower than higher-volume submarkets like Brickell or Sunny Isles. Plan accordingly.
Second, this is still pre-construction. Standard pre-con risks apply — timeline, construction quality, market conditions at delivery. I broke down the full risk framework in "How to Buy Pre-Construction in Miami: The 2026 Deposit Schedule, Timeline, and Risk Playbook Every Buyer Needs." Read it before signing any reservation.
For the broader market context that's shaping every Miami pre-construction decision right now, my recent piece "Miami Real Estate June 2026: The Summer Market Has Already Decided Who Wins This Year" walks through where the cycle sits.
View the full Wells Bay Harbor Islands project page with current pricing and availability at carloscabalerealtor.com/new-development/the-wells-bay-harbor
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: When does The Wells Bay Harbor Islands deliver? A: Constellation Group's project timeline targets a completion window in 2027-2028, consistent with most Miami boutique towers currently in active sales. Construction status, deposit schedule, and final delivery date should be confirmed directly with the developer — pre-construction timelines move with permitting and capital markets.
Q: Is Bay Harbor Islands a good place to invest in Miami real estate? A: Yes, with caveats. The school zone, the walkability, and the proximity to Bal Harbour Shops create durable demand. The downside is liquidity — this is a small market, so resale times can be longer than for higher-volume submarkets. For buyers planning to hold 7-10 years, this is a strong position. For 2-3 year flip plays, look elsewhere.
Q: Can I short-term-rent a unit at The Wells? A: Bay Harbor Islands has restrictive short-term rental rules at the municipal level, and most Bay Harbor condo buildings — including new ones in the pipeline — are structured around primary-residence or long-term-lease buyers, not Airbnb investors. If short-term rental income is your priority, the Wynwood or Edgewater STR-friendly product is a better fit.
Q: How does The Wells compare to The Cipriani Residences in Brickell? A: Different products entirely. Cipriani is an 80-story riverfront tower with a few hundred units and a global luxury brand attached. The Wells is a 54-residence boutique low-rise in a walkable island village. Per-square-foot pricing puts Cipriani ~60-90% higher. The Wells is for buyers who want quiet, low-density, school-zoned Miami living; Cipriani is for buyers who want Brickell-tower lifestyle with a branded label.
If you're looking at Bay Harbor Islands seriously in 2026 — or weighing it against Sunny Isles, Bal Harbour, or Coral Gables — I can walk you through the actual unit availability, the comparable sales, and the buyer pool currently moving on The Wells. Let's talk.
Explore the full Wells Bay Harbor Islands project on my website: carloscabalerealtor.com/new-development/the-wells-bay-harbor
Partnership Realty / Partnership Realty Inc / +1 (561) 629-0358 / carloscabalerealtor.com
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