Carnival Corp. announced Monday plans to build a new global headquarters on land purchased south of Miami International Airport.
The new multi-building campus will replace Doral’s existing headquarters. Carnival’s headquarters have been in Miami-Dade County for over 50 years.
“As the world’s largest cruise company, there is no better place to base us than Miami, it’s the world’s cruise capital.” “And this decades-old move will allow us to seamlessly build our success here, continue to grow our global business and deepen our community connections,” Weinstein said.
The 15-acre parcel on the northeast corner of SW 65th Ave. and NW 7th Street is on sale for $26.9 million, according to Blanca Commercial Real Estate, a lease agent for the Waterford Business District Portfolio.
More than 2,000 employees work on the new site in the 250-acre district, a hub of multinational and Fortune 500 companies. Carnival Corp.
“When completed in 2028, the new Global HQ will become the company’s major North American office, and will unite for the first time in a single location. The majority of North American coastal team members are cruise line operating units such as Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruise, Dutch American Line, Seaborn, Canard and Costa Cruise.
The employees currently working in Miami-Dade County will be joined by others who have previously been spread across other regions, “added hundreds of highly paid jobs to South Florida,” the company said.
The site will include between 600,000 and 700,000 square feet of workspace, including headquarters buildings and entertainment training, rehearsal facilities, according to the release.
The building is designed to feature a variety of work areas, including what the company calls “open collaboration zones, individual workplaces, adequate meeting rooms.” The site also features “a flexible technology infrastructure designed to keep up with new and emerging technologies.”
The release cites Miami-Dade Mayor Daniela Levine Cava and said the purchase decision was made after cooperation with the county’s Department of Innovation and Economic Development, Beacon Council (Regional Economic Development Agency) and the Florida Department of Commerce.
It “provides increased opportunities for local vendors and small businesses, as well as even more economic momentum for our region,” she said. “This announcement also reaffirms Port Miami’s strength and global status, the world’s cruise capital.”
A January report by the AAA showed that Port Miami handled the largest percentage of cruise docking in the country (10.3%). Following 10.3%, Port Canaveral in Brevard County ranked third with 8.3% and the Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale at 5.2%.
The current headquarters of Carnival Corp., acquired in 1983, is a 10-story, 468,218-square-foot office building in a 743,207-square-foot lot in Doral, as shown by the Miami-Dade Real Estate Appraiser website. According to the site, the property is valued at $70.3 million.
In April 2024, the company disclosed plans to sell the site and maintain its headquarters in the Miami area.
Ron Burtibise covers South Florida Sun Sentinel’s business and consumer issues. He can be contacted by telephone at 954-356-4071 or by email at rhurtibise@sunsentinel.com.
Original issue: May 6, 2025 7am EDT
