A Church Inside a 49-Storey Tower: A Historic Miami Congregation Sold Its Land for $55 Million

• First United Methodist Church of Miami sold its one-acre site for $55 million in 2018
• Developer Property Markets Group built a 49-storey condo and hotel tower on the land
• The church bought 20,000 square feet across several floors of the tower
• The remaining proceeds went into an endowment

One of Miami’s historic congregations now worships inside a skyscraper, the Miami Herald reported in December 2024, in a story republished by the Longview News-Journal.

First United Methodist Church of Miami, whose early members included city pioneers such as Dr James Jackson, namesake of Jackson Memorial Hospital, had worshipped in a 1981 sanctuary on Biscayne Boulevard. In 2018 it sold its one-acre property to New York-based Property Markets Group for $55 million. The developer built a 49-storey mixed-use condo and hotel tower with 646 micro-units at Northeast Fifth Street and Biscayne Boulevard. The church bought its own space, 20,000 square feet across several floors, and placed the rest of the proceeds in an endowment.

“As we know here, development isn’t stagnant. It’s always changing, and the church has to change with it,” said the Rev Audrey Warren. “Making this big decision took a lot of faith. Now, living in this decision takes even more faith.” She added: “I’m not kind of a pastor that wants to be a chaplain, that just wants to, like, help a church slowly die.”

Architect Don Baggesen said: “We got enough money out of that [deal] to take care of us for another hundred years.”

The deal is an example of a church using the value of its land to secure both a permanent home and a long-term income. Instead of selling and leaving, it sold and stayed, owning part of the new building and investing the rest.

For Jamaican churches in fast-growing districts such as New Kingston or Montego Bay’s hotel strip, this kind of arrangement is worth studying. It requires a strong developer, a clear agreement on the church’s space and costs, sound investment of the proceeds, and members who are willing to worship in a very different kind of building.