You only have days left to visit the Miami Seaquarium before its gates close

The Miami Seaquarium’s final day as a theme park is scheduled for Sunday, when the beleaguered attraction will open its doors for the last time before a Miami developer plans to take over the Virginia Key property and redevelop it.

Once a premier tourist attraction for Miami, with a trained orca serving as the main star, the Seaquarium is now in bankruptcy and planning to sell the lease on its public waterfront property near downtown for $22.5 million to developer David Martin and a subsidiary of his development company, Terra.

Martin plans to retain the Seaquarium name and open an aquarium there, but the marine mammals that are the heart of the theme park’s brand will be shipped to new homes. In their place will be a marina, a collection of restaurants with a Fishermen’s Village theme and a public baywalk along Biscayne Bay. Martin’s takeover of the county-owned land is conditioned on approval by the Miami-Dade County Commission, but Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and the commissioner representing the area, Raquel Regalado, have already publicly supported Martin’s plans.

In a statement Monday, the Seaquarium praised Martin’s modernization plan as one that “respects the history of the site” after a “substantial” investment on rented Miami-Dade County land that’s been home to the marine-mammal theme park since the 1950s. The park’s statement also described the Martin redevelopment as allowing the Seaquarium legacy to continue — albeit one without marine mammals on display.

“In order to begin that modernization process, the final day that guests will be able to visit the park, until the process is complete, will be October 12, 2025,” the statement read.

PETA, the animal-rights group, released a statement Monday celebrating the closure of a marine-mammal theme park. “Champagne corks are popping at PETA, following the news that the Miami Seaquarium is finally having to shut its doors after more than 50 long years of imprisoning sick and suffering animals,” the statement read.

This story was originally published October 6, 2025 at 1:59 PM.