Ocean House South of Fifth: 125 Ocean Drive Buyer's Guide (2026)

Ocean House at 125 Ocean Drive is one of the smallest oceanfront condominiums in South of Fifth and one of the few in the Miami Beach Art Deco district that pairs a preserved historic facade with a modern residential tower directly behind it. The property occupies the block once held by the 1946 Walburne Hotel, a Streamline Moderne building whose ocean-liner-inspired frontage was retained and restored as the entry to the current building.

The Ocean House condominium opened in 2012 with a boutique unit count -- reported between 26 and 31 residences depending on the source, inclusive of standard homes, lofts, cabanas, beach houses, and penthouses. Architecture is by Nichols Brosch Wurst Wolfe & Associates (NBWW), the Miami hospitality specialist behind projects including the Miami Beach EDITION, Loews Miami Beach, and the Fontainebleau. The project was developed by Matrix and later redeveloped by iStar Residential through delivery.

Ocean House is now a fully delivered, resale-only building. Two-unit listings in recent inventory have run in the range of $19M-$21M with per-square-foot pricing above $3,700.

View the Ocean House building page for current listings, floor plans, and building details.

The Quick Take

Where is Ocean House?

Ocean House sits on the east side of Ocean Drive at the southern tip of Miami Beach, one block north of South Pointe Park and inside the South of Fifth (SoFi) submarket -- the residential-heavy stretch south of 5th Street that has emerged as the highest-priced pocket of the Miami Beach barrier island. The building faces Lummus Park and the Atlantic; behind it, the Ocean Drive residential corridor connects to the Art Deco hotels running north.

Within a short walk of Ocean House:

• Joe's Stone Crab (established 1913) at 11 Washington Avenue
• Prime 112, Milos, Carbone, Catch, and Smith & Wollensky in the SoFi restaurant cluster
• South Pointe Park and the South Pointe Pier
• Continuum South Beach and the bay walk running along Government Cut
• The Art Deco Historic District starting at 5th Street, running north past the Carlyle, Breakwater, Tides, and Colony hotels

MacArthur Causeway access at 5th Street puts Brickell, downtown Miami, and PortMiami roughly 10 minutes west by car. Lincoln Road is a 15-minute walk or five-minute drive north up Alton Road.

Who's Behind Ocean House?

The property has two developer chapters:

Matrix Development -- the original entitlement and design-phase developer that assembled the site around the Walburne Hotel and worked with NBWW on the two-part scheme (preserved facade plus new tower behind it).

iStar Residential -- the New York-based real estate firm that took the project through completion and delivery in 2012. iStar's Ocean House program included the amenity build-out, penthouse rooftop terraces with private pools, and the final residence mix.

The design architect throughout was Nichols Brosch Wurst Wolfe & Associates, founded in 1967 in Miami. NBWW is one of Miami's largest hospitality architecture firms with a portfolio of over 300 hotels and $5+ billion of construction across South Florida -- including the Miami Beach EDITION, Loews Miami Beach, Eden Roc, Fontainebleau renovations, and Auberge Beach Residences Fort Lauderdale. Their residential work is anchored in the same craft vocabulary as the hospitality portfolio.

Architecture and Design

The Ocean House scheme is a preservation-first project. The 1946 Walburne Hotel at 125 Ocean Drive had been designed to read as a Streamline Moderne ocean liner, with horizontal window banding, curved corners, and elevated massing. The Miami Beach Historic Preservation Board required that the ocean-facing Walburne facade be retained and restored. The current Ocean House therefore has two elevations working together:

• Ocean Drive frontage -- the original 1946 Walburne facade, restored with historically accurate detailing and reopened as the building's front-of-house / lobby-adjacent arrival experience.
• New seven-story residential tower -- stepped back behind the historic facade so the massing does not visually overwhelm the preserved building, with balconies and window bays oriented east toward the Atlantic.

Inside, NBWW's design vocabulary runs to east-west flow-through layouts, direct-to-foyer private elevators on most residences, 10-foot ceilings, floor-to-ceiling glass on the ocean elevations, and oversized terraces. Antrobus + Ramirez collaborated on interior design elements. Penthouses top the tower with rooftop terraces reported near 4,500 square feet each, private pools, and summer kitchens.

Residences

The published mix is small and varied:

• ~26-31 residences total across seven stories (sources vary between 26 and 31)
• Lofts, standard flats, and penthouses across the tower
• Beach houses -- ground-level residences oriented toward the ocean and beach club
• Cabanas -- separately titled poolside units in the amenity program
• Residence sizes running from roughly 1,300 sf to 6,200 sf
• 1- to 5-bedroom layouts

Interior finishes include Italian porcelain and stone flooring, custom cabinetry, high-end appliance packages, and Crestron home automation. Private balconies and outdoor space are part of every configuration.

Historic Context: The Walburne Hotel

Ocean House exists because the underlying site had a historically protected building on it.

The Walburne Hotel was built in 1946 at 125 Ocean Drive. Its design language belonged to the Streamline Moderne / Miami Modern (MiMo) movement that dominated Miami Beach in the 1940s and 1950s -- horizontal window banding, an oceanliner-inspired elevated back, and curved massing intended to evoke a 1950s cruise-ship silhouette. The Walburne sat alongside the wider Miami Beach Architectural District's Art Deco stock as one of the transitional buildings between pre-war Deco and post-war MiMo.

In the early 1980s the hotel was purchased and rebranded as La Villa Luisa. It was sold again in 1999 and boarded up, sitting vacant until the mid-2000s. In 2006 the Walburne and neighboring parcels were demolished to make way for the Ocean House development, with the ocean-facing facade retained. The Miami Beach Historic Preservation Board later cited the resulting Ocean House as a successful modernization of the Art Deco district.

The historical layering is what makes Ocean House distinct on the block: buyers walk through a restored 1946 Streamline Moderne facade to enter a 2012 boutique condominium.

Amenities

The amenity program was built around the small unit count. The core list at Ocean House:

Ocean and pool

• Beachside pool deck with zero-entry pool
• Poolside cabanas with Wi-Fi
• Full beach service with towel, chair, and food-and-beverage attention
• Beachfront jogging path access via the Miami Beach oceanwalk

Wellness and lifestyle

• State-of-the-art fitness center
• Outdoor gourmet kitchen
• Private beauty salon
• Screening room
• Billiards room with bar
• Pet spa services

Service

• 24-hour concierge with in-app service
• On-staff butler
• Valet parking and luxury car detailing
• High-tech security services
• Ground-floor retail on the Ocean Drive elevation

Penthouse residences layer on their own private rooftop terraces with pools and summer kitchens, effectively creating a two-tier amenity structure between building-wide programming and penthouse-exclusive outdoor space.

How Ocean House Compares to Other South of Fifth Oceanfront Condos

South of Fifth's oceanfront corridor is narrow: only a handful of buildings sit east of Ocean Drive with direct beach frontage. The comparative set:

Where Ocean House differentiates:

• Smallest unit count in the SoFi oceanfront set at roughly 26-31 residences -- less than half of Apogee and a small fraction of Continuum.
• Only building with a preserved Art Deco facade integrated into a modern residential tower. That gives Ocean House an architectural provenance the newer glass towers cannot replicate.
• Direct Lummus Park frontage rather than the beach-only exposure on the eastern edge of the barrier island -- residents face green space and the Atlantic simultaneously.
• Mixed unit mix -- lofts, cabanas, beach houses, penthouses -- provides more configuration flexibility than the flat-only trophies.

The South of Fifth Neighborhood

South of Fifth is the ten-block wedge at the southern tip of Miami Beach, running from 5th Street south to South Pointe Park. It has the highest concentration of trophy oceanfront and bayfront condominiums in Miami Beach (Continuum, Apogee, Portofino, Murano at Portofino, Murano Grande, Icon South Beach) and a compact restaurant cluster that has become the go-to dining zone for the full barrier island.

Walk-to essentials:

• Groceries and daily errands -- Publix at 15th and West, Milam's Market, small SoFi bodegas
• Dining -- Joe's Stone Crab, Prime 112, Milos, Carbone, Catch, Smith & Wollensky, Byblos, Bianca, Papi Steak, Sushi Garage
• Parks and outdoor -- South Pointe Park, South Pointe Pier, Government Cut boardwalk, Lummus Park
• Fitness -- Barry's, SoFi CrossFit, and multiple boutique studios inside the district
• Marina -- Miami Beach Marina at Fifth and Alton for boat and yacht access

For broader city access, the MacArthur Causeway crossing at Fifth Street reaches Brickell City Centre, the Mandarin Oriental Brickell Key, and the downtown Miami cluster in about 10 minutes without traffic.

FAQ

When was Ocean House delivered?

Ocean House opened in 2012, developed by Matrix and taken through completion by iStar Residential. It is a fully delivered, resale-only condominium.

Who designed Ocean House?

Nichols Brosch Wurst Wolfe & Associates (NBWW), the Miami-based hospitality architecture firm founded in 1967. NBWW's other South Florida work includes the Miami Beach EDITION, Loews Miami Beach, Fontainebleau, Eden Roc, and Auberge Beach Residences & Spa.

What is the address of Ocean House?

125 Ocean Drive, Miami Beach, FL 33139, in the South of Fifth (SoFi) neighborhood, directly across from Lummus Park.

How many residences are there at Ocean House?

The published count ranges between 26 and 31 residences across the seven-story building, inclusive of standard flats, lofts, beach houses, cabanas, and penthouses. Sizes run from approximately 1,300 to 6,200 square feet.

What is the history of the Walburne Hotel?

The 1946 Walburne Hotel was a Streamline Moderne / Miami Modern building at 125 Ocean Drive designed to resemble a 1950s ocean liner. It was rebranded La Villa Luisa in the 1980s, sold in 1999, and demolished in 2006 to make way for Ocean House, with the ocean-facing facade retained and restored under Historic Preservation Board requirements.

Are Ocean House residences available now?

Ocean House is resale-only. Inventory is thin; recent activity has shown one to two homes on the market at a time, listing near or above $3,700 per square foot.

What amenities does Ocean House offer?

A zero-entry beachside pool with cabanas, full beach service, state-of-the-art fitness center, outdoor gourmet kitchen, private beauty salon, screening room, billiards room, pet spa, 24-hour concierge, butler, valet, and ground-floor retail. Penthouse residences add private rooftop terraces with pools and summer kitchens.

What is the walking distance to Joe's Stone Crab from Ocean House?

Joe's Stone Crab is at 11 Washington Avenue, roughly a two-to-three-minute walk south from Ocean House. Prime 112, Milos, Smith & Wollensky, and the rest of the SoFi restaurant cluster are within the same walking radius.

Bottom Line

Ocean House is a fully delivered 2012 boutique oceanfront condominium at the tip of South of Fifth, with a preserved 1946 Walburne Hotel Art Deco facade fronting a seven-story NBWW-designed tower behind it. Roughly 26-31 residences, penthouse rooftop pools, and a service-heavy amenity program built for a small owner set. For buyers who want the smallest SoFi oceanfront addresses with real architectural provenance, Ocean House is one of the shortest lists in Miami Beach.

Want a Data-Driven Read on Ocean House?

If you are evaluating an Ocean House resale, comparing SoFi oceanfront trophies, or looking at how the building has traded relative to Continuum and Apogee, reach out to Kyle Benjamin, REHub Miami.

View the Ocean House building page | Browse South of Fifth condos | Contact us

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Disclaimer: This article is for general informational purposes. Building specifications, unit counts, pricing, and amenity offerings can vary between sources and change over time. Verify all details directly with the sales team, HOA, and current listing before making any purchase decision.