In a young city like Miami, a quarter century can seem like a long time. For the Mandarin Oriental hotel, it was long enough to generate nostalgic laments and a farewell bash.

The waterfront hotel, which opened in 2000, was imploded early Sunday to make way for a new luxury development that will include a bigger Mandarin Oriental and a 66-story residential tower. The existing 23-story structure folded in on itself just after 8:30 a.m. after the explosives were detonated, as onlookers took video from boats in Biscayne Bay and along nearby streets and bridges.

Miami Wealth Boom Drives New $1 Billion Mandarin Hotel Project

Miami’s Mandarin Oriental ended a 25-year run with a planned implosion over the weekend that took less than a minute. From the rubble will rise a $1 billion luxury project fueled by the city’s wealth boom. The development will consist of a new 34-story Mandarin Oriental, plus a 66-floor residential tower with two-bedroom condos starting at $6.6 million. The building’s two penthouses recently sold for $50 million apiece before the implosion even occurred, and years before construction is slated for completion in 2030. The developer, Swire Properties Inc., says it’s already generated $1.3 billion in sales from about half the units on offer. The new hotel will serve as the North American flagship for the Mandarin Oriental chain, with fewer and bigger — and pricier — rooms. “The combination of us, Mandarin, the location and the design is driving extraordinary sales success,” David Martin, president of Swire Properties, said in an interview before the implosion. “And it doesn’t seem to be slowing down.” Swire is part of the corporate family tree of a 200-year-old company that owns Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. and mostly operates in Asia. It’s been in the Miami market for more than 40 years. In the late 1970s, Swire began buying up the man-made key next to Brickell, paying some $17 million from a financially struggling developer, Martin said. It proceeded to develop the area now known as Brickell Key over the ensuing decades, adding condo and office buildings along with the Mandarin Oriental, which opened in 2000. During the financial crisis in 2008, Swire started to buy lots in central Brickell and eventually developed what is now Brickell City Centre. The popular mixed-use complex includes a high-end mall, hotel, office towers and condos, all connected to public transport in a neighborhood that’s a favorite with social media influencers. In the past few years, Swire exited those properties in a series of transactions that netted nearly $1 billion in proceeds. That cash is now being deployed into the Mandarin Oriental hotel and branded residences project. — Bloomberg News

The implosion, the largest in Miami in more than a decade, underscores the changes sweeping local real estate as a wealth boom brings in domestic and international buyers to South Florida. Land values have surged in Miami, with scarce available lots between the Atlantic Ocean and Everglades. Meanwhile, zoning changes are enabling developers to build taller and more expensive buildings, with several so-called “supertalls” planned for downtown.

Swire Properties will lead development of the new Mandarin Oriental project. Swire owns the property in Brickell Key and has operated in the area since the late 1970s.

The new complex will include a new 34-floor Mandarin Oriental that includes 121 guest rooms, 70 private homes and 28 “turnkey Hotel Collection residences,” Swire said in a statement.

Just south of the hotel will be the residential tower, with 228 units, which is expected to be completed in 2030. The residences in the tower start at $6.6 million for two bedrooms while the two penthouses recently sold for $50 million apiece.

Hundreds of people came out to watch the implosion, lining a waterfront promenade opposite the old hotel, their phones out, ready to film. People gasped and dogs barked as an array of red, white and blue fireworks atop the building went off, followed by the roar of explosives that brought the hotel down in a matter of seconds.

A cloud of thick white dust covered the implosion site for several minutes and drifted across Biscayne Bay before clearing to show a pile of twisted steel and concrete rubble where the building once stood.

Photo: Onlookers along the waterfront before an implosion of the former hotel, center, on Sunday morning. (Bloomberg)