Flood Risk America is proud to complete a large-scale project for Mary Brickell Village, a great example of why Miami flood prevention has become one of the most pressing priorities for property owners and developers across South Florida.
For the tenants and business owners who call Mary Brickell Village home, repeated or severe flooding creates more than just cleanup costs. Over time, it can disrupt daily operations, drive up insurance premiums, and chip away at the steady foot traffic that keeps businesses thriving.
The Property
Mary Brickell Village is an open-air lifestyle center nestled in the heart of Miami’s Brickell neighborhood, one of the city’s fastest-growing urban corridors and a hub of its financial district. Offering a curated mix of retail, dining, and entertainment, it draws a steady stream of locals, office workers, and visitors all day, every day. But that same energy – the ground-level storefronts, the constant foot traffic, the open-air design – also makes it exactly the type of property that suffers most when floodwaters arrive.
A significant flood event, whether driven by a king tide, tropical storm surge, or prolonged heavy rainfall, can shut down storefronts, damage inventory and infrastructure, displace tenants, and deter the foot traffic that keeps businesses thriving. And in Brickell, they do arrive.
During a 2017 flooding event, more than 10 businesses, stores, and buildings in the vicinity of Mary Brickell Village had at least 1 to 4 inches of water inside their structures, based on water marks and accounts from store employees. SW 10th Street, which runs directly alongside the property, was closed due to deep water. For the tenants and property managers at Mary Brickell Village, that event made one thing clear: prevention is their biggest strategy.
The Miami Flood Prevention Challenge
Open-air lifestyle centers present a unique set of challenges for Miami flood prevention. Unlike a single-entry office building or a high-rise tower with a discrete set of ground-level openings, a property like Mary Brickell Village has multiple retail storefronts, pedestrian thoroughfares, parking access points, and service entries – all at or near street level, all vulnerable.
Standard, off-the-shelf flood barriers don’t answer that challenge. Every opening is different. Every threshold has its own dimensions, its own structural context, and its own operational requirements. A solution that works for one entry may be entirely unsuitable for another thirty feet away.
This is where Flood Risk America’s approach makes the difference: custom fabrication over a generic product.
The FRA Approach: Customized, Site-Specific Protection
Flood Risk America works with architects, engineers, and construction managers during the design and planning phases to identify vulnerabilities before they are built in. For an existing property like Mary Brickell Village, that same methodology applies: assess first, design to fit, then install
FRA manufactures and installs a comprehensive range of flood protection products including:
- The FRA Flood Panel
- Passive Automatic Barriers
- Swing-Hinged Floodgates
- Permanent Flood Doors
- Emergency Exit Flood Doors
- And more flood protection options.
For a mixed-use, high-traffic commercial destination, that full-range capability matters. A piecemeal approach to flood protection leaves gaps, and gaps are where water gets in. The result at Mary Brickell Village is a protection system designed around the property’s actual architecture and risk profile, not a generic barrier applied to an opening that wasn’t measured for it.
Why This Installation Matters
Mary Brickell Village is one of Miami’s most recognized commercial properties. Protecting it isn’t just about preventing damage, but also showcases what responsible commercial property management looks like in a city where flood risk is high.
The developers who will define Miami’s next chapter are those who treat flood resilience as a foundational design principle rather than an afterthought. That principle applies equally to new construction and to existing properties that serve thousands of people every week. If you own or manage a commercial property in Miami or South Florida, the question isn’t whether flood risk applies to you – it’s whether your property is prepared for it.
