In 2017, when Oceana Bal Harbour was completed at 10201 Collins Avenue, an owner paid $16.3 million for two units and made them into one residence, unit 2601. In 2025, that residence sold to two buyers. Property records show $29 million, or nearly $3,900 per square foot for 7,442 square feet, and The Real Deal reported it as a record for a Bal Harbour condo.
Most buyers who want to repeat that move find out late that combining two condos is a legal question first and a design question second. Under Florida law, a change to the condo's founding document, the declaration, that materially changes a unit's size or configuration, or that changes its share of common expenses at all, needs the unit owner and every lienholder to sign. It also needs approval from the owners of every other unit in the condominium, unless the original declaration sets a different procedure. In Bal Harbour, where very few new towers get built, that rule shapes what the largest residences cost.
The Signature Every Other Owner Has to Give
The relevant passage of Section 718.110 of the Florida Statutes is short:
"...an amendment may not change the configuration or size of any unit in any material fashion... unless the record owner of the unit and all record owners of liens on the unit join in the execution of the amendment and unless all the record owners of all other units in the same condominium approve the amendment."
Many owners take a simpler route. They connect two apartments physically and leave them as two legal units. Chapter 718 ties common-element shares and voting rights to each unit as the declaration defines it. As a result, a combined home that was never formally amended still carries two sets of assessments and two votes. It may also resell as two units, which decides whether the next buyer can split it up again.
The physical work runs into its own limits. Chapter 718 has no single board-approval rule for combinations, so the declaration and bylaws set the association's process, and no owner may impair the safety or soundness of the common elements. Bal Harbour Village requires permits for most construction. Interior-only applications go straight to the Building department, and exterior changes first need Architectural Review Board approval. The Village's permit-exemption sheet does not treat cutting a wall or partition, or touching a load-bearing support, as an ordinary minor repair. Under the Village's expanded noise ordinance, construction is not allowed on Saturdays, Sundays or specified holidays anywhere in the Village. A combination therefore runs on a weekday-only schedule, after the paperwork has cleared.
Oceana's Recent Sales, Grouped by Layout
Oceana is the best place to test this, because it has the most recent closings of any Bal Harbour tower in the record. Here is what the press reported between October 2025 and August 2026, with St. Regis Bal Harbour Residences at 9701 Collins Avenue for comparison.
| Residence | Size | Price | Per sq. ft. | Prior purchase | Reported |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oceana 2601, two units combined | 7,442 sf | $29M recorded | ~$3,900 | $16.3M, 2017 | Oct. 2025 |
| Oceana residence | 4,200 sf | $12.5M | just under $3,000 | $7.3M, 2016 | Feb. 2026 |
| St. Regis residence | 3,400 sf | just under $11M | ~$3,200 | $5M, 2013 | Feb. 2026 |
| Oceana PH2802 | 5,000 sf | $20.9M | $4,200 | $22M, 2023 | July 2026 |
| Oceana corner residence | 4,000 sf | $14.5M | $3,600 | $10.7M, 2023 | Aug. 2026 |
Penthouse PH2802 sold for the highest price per square foot in the table. It is also the only residence that sold for less than its owner paid. The 2023 buyer paid for the penthouse label up front, and three years later the next buyer paid a little less for the same space. The corner residence was bought the same year for $10.7 million and sold this August for about 36 percent more. The penthouse premium is still there per square foot, but in this set of sales it did not drive appreciation.
The combined unit stands out from the rest of the table. Together, the two units went from $16.3 million to a $29 million recorded price, and the sale set a new Village condo record above an earlier Oceana sale of $25 million in 2023. It was listed at $35.9 million, so the buyer negotiated a large discount from the ask. Even so, the 7,442 square feet with a 2,335-square-foot wraparound terrace sold for more than any single unit in the building. Totals reported with extras vary by outlet. The Real Deal put the deal at $30 million including furniture, and the New York Post reported $30.5 million including parking and furniture.
Two Penthouses on Oceana's 28th Floor
The PH2802 sale on July 22 went to an entity named Oceana PH2802 Holdings LLC. In late June, the 4,900-square-foot upper penthouse next door, PH2803, had gone under contract while listed at $23.95 million. That works out to nearly $4,900 per square foot, after a 2021 sale at $15 million. The same day as the PH2802 sale, the South Florida Business Journal reported PH2803 as sold. It said the buyer now owns two penthouses in the building, with nearly 11,000 square feet under air plus two roof decks.
The public reporting stops there. The PH2803 closing price, the buyer's legal name and any plan to merge the two homes have not been confirmed. Even so, the two sales follow the 2601 pattern. In a finished tower, a buyer who wants more space than one floor plan offers buys the unit next door, and the condo's documents then decide whether the result stays two units or becomes one.
Rivage Combined Its Penthouses, Then Split Them
The newest building shows that a combination can be reversed. When Related Group, Two Roads Development and Rockpoint launched sales at Rivage in January 2023, they described a 24-story, 61-unit tower. At the time, Oceana was the most recently completed building in Bal Harbour. Related president Jon Paul Pérez said he expected buyers to combine units.
By July 2025, two of the original penthouses had been joined into a triplex of more than 35,000 square feet with a $150 million asking price, the most expensive residence ever listed in Bal Harbour. By August 2026, Robb Report said the triplex had been divided into three penthouses. Two have sold, and the upper penthouse is listed at $75 million with completion planned for 2027.
That upper penthouse has more than 10,000 air-conditioned square feet and another 10,000-plus square feet of outdoor space. It also includes a dedicated Longevity Suite with an Ammortal Chamber, a hyperbaric chamber, a sauna, a steam room and circadian lighting. PROFILEmiami now describes Rivage as 25 stories and 56 residences, with homes starting at 3,300 square feet and each offering in-unit elevator access and a private parking garage. No published report has explained the drop from 61 to 56. What the reporting does show is that a preconstruction building can redraw its floor plates for buyers more cheaply than an occupied tower can. Rivage's developer did it twice in about a year, combining two penthouses and then dividing the result into three, all before a single owner moved in.
The developer site lists the project as under construction at 10245 Collins Avenue. Its sales lounge is at Bal Harbour Shops, on the third floor of 9700 Collins Avenue next to Makoto.
What the County Numbers Miss
The Miami-Dade figures show a slow existing-condo market. In August 2026 the county recorded 911 existing-condo sales, up 1 percent from a year earlier, at a median price of $408,000. Inventory stood at 12.1 months, which MIAMI REALTORS classifies as a buyer's market, and condo sellers received a median 94 percent of original list price. The same release notes that MLS totals leave out most new-construction and preconstruction sales. That means the county figures cover none of the Rivage reconfiguration and almost none of a market priced in thousands of dollars per square foot.
A negotiating buyer can point to the 94 percent figure, and the 2601 ask-to-sale gap shows that even record-setting Oceana residences close below their list prices. For the largest Bal Harbour homes, though, price depends less on the countywide balance than on how much contiguous space can be assembled and whether the condo documents allow it.
Questions to Settle Before Counting on Two Units Becoming One
- Does the original recorded declaration set its own procedure for changing unit boundaries, or does the statute's default apply, with every other owner's approval?
- If the units stay legally separate, how many assessments, votes and future resale options does the owner carry?
- Does the work cut walls or touch structural supports? If so, it falls outside the Village's minor-repair exemption and needs a permit.
- Does any part of the plan reach the exterior, which would send it to the Architectural Review Board first?
- Can the contractor's schedule work within weekday-only construction?
- In a preconstruction tower like Rivage, which configurations are still open, and by when do they have to be decided?
Building a larger residence at Rivage or bringing two Oceana-scale units under one owner both start with the condo documents, which come before any floor plan. Mariela Hopen works directly with developers on configuration and presale allocations across Bal Harbour's oceanfront towers, in English or Spanish, and handles every conversation with discretion. Request Exclusive Access to discuss the floor plates that are still available.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
