Seaquarium developer easily wins Miami-Dade vote endorsing his takeover plan

Developer David Martin easily won a county vote Tuesday on his proposed takeover of the Miami Seaquarium, clearing the way for the bankrupt theme park to be transformed into a marina and entertainment spot.

County commissioners asked no questions before voting unanimously to endorse the framework of a 99-year lease of the 38-acre Seaquarium site for a subsidiary of Terra, Martin’s development firm in Coconut Grove. The vote wasn’t final — commissioners still need to approve a detailed lease — but was the latest sign of county backing for Martin’s Seaquarium plans.

While Miami-Dade owns the land that’s housed the marine-mammal theme park since the 1950s, Martin has a deal with the Seaquarium’s bankrupt owner, the Mexico-based Dolphin Company, to pay $23 million to take over the company’s county lease. A bankruptcy judge has already approved that transaction, but Miami-Dade has final say on the deal.

Martin is a reliable donor on the county election circuit and already has multiple deals in the works with Miami-Dade, including a county-funded hotel by the Miami Beach Convention Center and a housing complex on parking lots outside a county office complex in South Miami-Dade.

For the Seaquarium, Martin is pledging a modern redevelopment of the prime county waterfront. He’s planning on building an aquarium, but with the stipulation that no marine mammals be held there.

Martin said a condition of his lease purchase is that the Dolphin Company relocate all animals that were living at the Seaquarium when it closed Oct. 12 after 70 years in business on Miami’s Virginia Key.

The bulk of the profit from Martin’s $100 million redevelopment will come from a marina, with both slips and dry-dock boat storage. The ample county-owned bay bottom that comes with the lease could allow for a mooring field, too.

Martin’s proposal includes a public baywalk winding through the Seaquarium waterfront, which would include the existing Buckminster Fuller geodesic dome repurposed as enclosed event space and restaurants operating in a Fisherman’s Village area overlooking Biscayne Bay.

The lease framework commissioners approved requires Martin to pay Miami-Dade at least $3 million a year — double the Seaquarium’s minimum rent — and share up to 5% of the redeveloped property’s annual revenue. He’s expecting the new Seaquarium operation to open sometime in 2030.

This story was originally published December 2, 2025 at 3:51 PM.