Turnberry Ocean Club vs Bentley Residences in Sunny Isles Beach: Deposit strategy & timelines
Quick Summary
- Turnberry Ocean Club is delivered, enabling immediate use and real-world due diligence
- Bentley Residences is multi-year, trading time for a staged-deposit pathway
- Deposits differ: resale escrow vs milestone schedules that can total 50% pre-close
- Choose based on certainty, liquidity needs, and tolerance for construction timeline risk
A tale of two timelines in Sunny Isles
Sunny Isles Beach has become a laboratory for modern luxury: delivered, fully operational oceanfront condominiums on one end of the spectrum, and brand-forward, engineering-led new development on the other. When buyers compare Turnberry Ocean Club and Bentley Residences, the decision can sound like a style preference. In practice, it’s a choice about timeline and capital structure.
Turnberry Ocean Club is a completed oceanfront condominium at 18501 Collins Ave with 154 residences in a 54-story tower, delivered in 2020. That single fact reshapes the risk profile. You can tour the exact views, hear the acoustic realities, review the association’s published rules and regulations, and close on a standard resale cadence-often measured in weeks rather than years.
Bentley Residences, planned at 18401 Collins Ave, is a Bentley Motors branded tower by Dezer Development, described as a roughly 62-story building with 216 residences. It’s a multi-year proposition, where construction milestones can matter as much as floor plans. The concept includes a vehicle elevator system designed to bring residents and cars to private garage areas, and developer materials describe private pools on terraces.
For Sunny Isles buyers, the core question is simple: do you want certainty and immediate lifestyle access, or are you willing to commit capital over time for a future-facing residence that arrives later with a different set of risks and potential rewards?
Delivered versus developing: what “timeline” actually means
In a delivered building like Turnberry Ocean Club, “timeline” typically means contract negotiation, inspections, financing (if any), and title work. Closings frequently follow normal resale schedules, often around 30 to 60 days depending on the specifics of the transaction. The advantage is straightforward: your underwriting is anchored to what exists-operating budgets, building staffing, reserve posture, move-in logistics, and everyday governance.
Because Turnberry Ocean Club is delivered, you’re not buying a promise. You’re buying an operating condominium with documented policies that can shape daily life: what moving in looks like, how common spaces are used, and the expectations that preserve a certain atmosphere. That clarity is a major reason some second-home buyers prioritize resale towers even when new construction is available nearby.
Bentley Residences is different. Here, timeline is the product. You’re buying into a forward delivery window with contract language that defines what “completion” means and what triggers closing. The practical result is a multi-year planning horizon-and a lifestyle that starts later. For some buyers, that trade is acceptable, even desirable, because it creates a long runway to customize a future home while the building takes shape.
In Sunny Isles, that choice echoes across the neighborhood, where delivered luxury options like Regalia Sunny Isles Beach can satisfy immediate oceanfront living, while pre-construction projects invite a longer view.
Deposits: escrow simplicity versus staged commitments
Luxury buyers often fixate on price per square foot, then discover the more consequential lever is how cash is deployed.
For a typical resale purchase such as Turnberry Ocean Club, the structure is usually straightforward: an earnest money deposit often in the 5 to 10 percent range is held in escrow, with the remaining balance due at closing. Exact figures vary by contract and negotiation, but the logic is consistent-your major capital outlay arrives when you receive the keys.
A pre-construction purchase such as Bentley Residences tends to invert that timing. Marketed deposit structures describe staged payments tied to construction milestones, commonly totaling 50 percent before closing and 50 percent at closing. One widely published example follows a 20 percent deposit at contract with multiple 10 percent installments at key milestones, then 50 percent due at closing. The key nuance is not only how much, but when: capital is deployed over years, not weeks.
This staged approach can feel lighter on day one, but it changes your opportunity-cost profile. It also demands careful review of how deposits are held under Florida condominium escrow rules, where amounts above the first 10 percent may be placed into a separate escrow and, depending on contract permissions, may be used for construction. For buyers, this is less theory than comfort level: what is protected, what is accessible, and what remedies exist if timelines extend.
Even within the broader branded-residences wave, deposit mechanics vary. In Brickell, for instance, branded vertical living such as Mercedes-Benz Places Miami shows how lifestyle branding can coexist with more traditional high-rise purchase planning-yet every contract still carries its own schedule and triggers.
Risk, translated into buyer language
“Risk” in luxury residential is often treated as purely market risk. In this comparison, the immediate risks are execution and governance.
Turnberry Ocean Club: the risk is mostly known. You can evaluate the building as it operates today, not as it is projected to operate later. You can assess the amenity experience as delivered, because the property is marketed around an expansive club concept with extensive resident facilities, including pool, spa and fitness, and dining and club spaces. If the club-like lifestyle is central to your decision, seeing it in motion matters.
Bentley Residences: the risk is mostly timeline and delivery definition. The project has visible progress milestones, including a major mat foundation pour that has been widely covered, signaling movement from foundation work toward vertical construction. Yet it remains a long-horizon purchase. The key risks become schedule drift, scope evolution, and the practical realities of staged deposits over time. You’re also underwriting the future market’s willingness to pay for a distinctive value proposition: a Bentley Motors branded tower with the Dezervator vehicle elevator concept and private in-unit garage areas.
For many pre-construction buyers, the question isn’t whether delays can happen-it’s how the contract addresses them. For some, that is a manageable trade. For others, especially those optimizing for immediate use, delivered inventory can read as a quieter form of luxury.
Lifestyle fit: club culture versus engineered theater
Turnberry Ocean Club’s design intent is hospitality-forward: a comprehensive amenity ecosystem designed to feel like membership. That can be ideal for buyers who value service cadence, a predictable social atmosphere, and the ability to arrive and enjoy the building immediately.
Bentley Residences is engineered theater. The idea of taking a car up into the building and into a private garage isn’t a small flourish; it’s the organizing principle. For collectors, privacy-driven owners, and buyers who want a residence that reads like a personal pavilion in the sky, that feature may justify both the timeline and the deposit schedule.
Sunny Isles is not the only market expressing this split. In Surfside, the sensibility shifts toward boutique restraint, a contrast visible in properties such as Arte Surfside, where scale and privacy are frequently part of the appeal. The throughline is the same: know whether you are purchasing a finished experience or commissioning a future one.
Floor plans and the reality of space
Turnberry Ocean Club residences are generally described in the 3 to 6 bedroom range, with interior sizes commonly cited from roughly 2,800 square feet up to 10,000-plus depending on the residence type. In a delivered building, that range is easy to contextualize because you can tour different stacks, compare ceiling heights, and verify how square footage lives.
Bentley Residences is marketed as ultra-luxury, with features such as private pools on terraces described in developer materials. For buyers, that means “space” is not only interior-it’s also outdoor program, privacy, and how the terrace functions as a true extension of the living room. Because it is a future delivery, you will rely more heavily on plans, finish schedules, and contract definitions of what is included.
For those who love the idea of oceanfront but want alternative interpretations of new luxury, Miami Beach also offers a different lifestyle narrative. Five Park Miami Beach, for example, speaks to buyers who want a fresh build and a distinct neighborhood energy, without necessarily anchoring the experience to automotive design.
Liquidity and optionality: resale flexibility versus long hold
Luxury buyers increasingly treat their residences as part lifestyle, part balance sheet. That’s where the two paths diverge.
With a delivered resale property, the hold period is optional. You can buy, use, and reassess without waiting for a certificate of occupancy years later. Market-trend snapshots for Sunny Isles are commonly used by buyers to gauge days-on-market dynamics and liquidity expectations, even if the true story is always unit-specific.
With a pre-construction purchase, you’re committing to a timeline in which your liquidity event is, by design, deferred. You can sometimes assign or resell depending on contract terms, but it is not the same as owning a closed unit with immediate marketability. If you may need flexibility, that difference isn’t a footnote-it’s the strategy.
Who each building is best for
Choose Turnberry Ocean Club if:
- You prioritize certainty, immediate occupancy, and the ability to underwrite actual operations.
- You want a standard closing structure where most capital is due at closing.
- You prefer to experience the amenity program as it exists, not as it is rendered.
Choose Bentley Residences if:
- You are comfortable with a late-2020s delivery target and the possibility of a longer runway.
- You prefer staged deposits tied to milestones, with the understanding that total pre-close deposits can be substantial.
- You value the Bentley Motors brand, the Dezervator vehicle elevator concept, and the privacy logic of in-unit garage areas.
Neither is “better.” They represent two different definitions of luxury: one is delivered clarity, the other is a long-form commission.
FAQs
-
Is Turnberry Ocean Club already completed? Yes. It was delivered in 2020, so buyers can tour the actual building and amenities.
-
Where is Turnberry Ocean Club located? It is an oceanfront condominium at 18501 Collins Ave in Sunny Isles Beach.
-
How many residences are in Turnberry Ocean Club? The tower has 154 residences in a 54-story building.
-
Is Bentley Residences a pre-construction purchase? It has a multi-year development timeline, so buyers are typically purchasing ahead of completion.
-
Where is Bentley Residences planned? It is planned for 18401 Collins Ave in Sunny Isles Beach.
-
How many residences are planned for Bentley Residences? The project is described as having 216 residences in a roughly 62-story tower.
-
What is the Dezervator feature at Bentley Residences? It is a vehicle elevator concept intended to bring cars and residents to private garage areas.
-
Do deposits work differently for resale versus pre-construction? Generally, yes: resale uses an escrowed earnest deposit with the balance at closing, while pre-construction uses staged milestone deposits.
-
Can pre-construction condo deposits be used for construction in Florida? Amounts above the first 10% may be held in a separate escrow and may be used if the contract permits.
-
Which option is better for a second-home buyer who wants to use the residence now? A delivered building like Turnberry typically fits better because it can close and be occupied on a resale timeline.
For a tailored shortlist and next-step guidance, connect with MILLION Luxury.
Million Luxury
Million Luxury
Welcome to MILLION, an exclusive luxury real estate boutique nestled in the heart of South Florida’s most desirable locations. Specializing in high-end properties, we provide a sanctuary for discerning clients including top Fortune 500 executives, affluent families, celebrities, and professional athletes from across the globe. At MILLION, we understand the unique demands of our elite clientele and offer a seamless blend of confidentiality and personalized attention. Our commitment to privacy is unwavering; we ensure that every transaction and interaction is handled with the utmost discretion and according to stringent confidentiality protocols. Our concierge service embodies the pinnacle of white-glove care, offering tailored assistance that transcends traditional real estate support.
