David Martin, a businessman whose dazzling development projects are already transforming Key
Biscayne, is the Independent’s Newsmaker of the Year for 2025. His Terra Group of companies is
making over the former Silver Sands hotel and also the entry block of the island.
Both of Martin’s projects alone would have put him in the top 10. But Martin became an even bigger
newsmaker with plans to renovate the Rickenbacker Causeway and transform the now shuttered
Miami Seaquarium. Both of those projects could affect millions of people who travel from the
mainland over the azure waters of Biscayne Bay to two of the region’s famous barrier islands.
“Thanks brother,” Martin said when he was on the list, quickly adding he didn’t deserve it.
Ah, but he does.
The Shoreline proposal – an approach his company funded with the help of Commissioner Raquel
Regalado and legal lion Eugene Stearns – has a chance of permanent change so tempting, that Key
Biscayne’s Council pumped nearly a million dollars of seed money into it.
For years, the Rickenbacker has been the Causeway people love to hate. Who can fret about a
commute as they climb the William Powell bridge 77 feet into the air and are treated to breathtaking
views of Biscayne Bay, the Atlantic Ocean, and Miami’s growing skyline?
But the scenic vibes are brief. The visual moment of zen is stolen by traffic jams as people head to
beaches at Crandon Park and Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park – not to mention the annoying
swarms of occasionally arrogant cyclists veering out of the bike lanes. The corridors are popular, but
there have also been many car-cyclist collisions that have killed and injured people.
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava has been cool to the Shoreline concept so far, pushing the
County plan instead. The Shoreline would ambitiously double-deck the highway over Virginia Key,
reclaiming much of the asphalt to expand a public bayfront beach as it connects to a new $90 million
Bear Cut Bridge.
But then, there’s the most recent Martin project: the redevelopment of Miami Seaquarium. He outbid
dozens of other suitors to take over the lease owned by the bankrupt Dolphin Company, winning swift
approval from a bankruptcy judge and the Miami County Commission.
“We are going to use a futuristic lens,” Martin told the Independent about his concept. As the
dolphins, seals, and sea lions are sold off (the live animal shows are gone for good), Martin’s plan
would create a new “environmentally appropriate” marina while retaining an educational aquarium
on the site. For many, outraged by the death of Lolita the killer whale, the change can’t come fast
enough.
Reader’s Choice: Ed London
While Martin is all about speeding up change, Ed London, the Key Biscayne council member, is about
slowing spending down – especially the Big Dig, the plan to rip up and raise roads, build miles of
pressurized pipes, and pump stormwater into Biscayne Bay. He emerged as a lead critic of Manager
Steve Williamson’s signature public works project, the biggest in the island’s history. Cost projections
have soared to at least $80 million just for Zone 1.
London has managed to slow – but not stop – the project, as an alternative vision awaits review. His
comments on government spending (he often calls it waste) can be caustic and the local unions
despise him. But somehow, he does it with mirth. Indeed, If someday a statue of Ed London is erected
outside Village Hall, it simply must have an interactive feature where future residents can push a
button and hear his chuckle.
The chuckle comes at the end of many of his statements as a council member during meetings. It can
convey the absurdity of municipal governance or that “I’m not buying this,” or, after one of his
hyperbolic statements, to drive home a point – even if it’s unpopular with his council colleagues.
In making London, the 85-year-old dean of the Council, the readers’ choice, several commenters
praised his watchdog ways.
“A rock star,” one reader wrote. “Quirky yet very savvy, he is an independent thinker who is not afraid
to speak his mind,” said another.
Like Martin, London is also a developer, but he’s been a big supporter of the island’s film festival and
– though he won’t talk about it – has his hands in extensive philanthropy.
He was similarly reticent when told he was the reader’s choice. “There are other people that are much
more qualified,” he said, “much more deserving than me.” He quickly endorsed Melissa White, the
leader of the Key Biscayne Community Foundation (the reader’s runner-up choice).
“She’s an angel,” London said.