The Miami Seaquarium's next era: boat slips, chefs, an aquarium. But no dolphins
Marine life still has a future at the Miami Seaquarium once developer David Martin takes over, but it's the planned marina that would be the financial star at the home of the recently shuttered theme park.
One of Miami's most prolific and politically plugged-in developers, Martin is on the verge of taking control of the iconic waterfront theme park, which closed its gates to the public on Sunday after 70 years as a tourist attraction.
The 48-year-old is planning to spend upward of $100 million to bring new commercial ventures and public spaces to the land owned by Miami-Dade County's Parks Department. Those include an aquarium complex, a bay-walk promenade and a restaurant complex under a Fishermen's Village theme. The waterfront would be transformed into a large marina, with piers and floating docks off the shore by the old Flipper Dolphin lagoon theater and wrapping around most of the waterfront, along with racks for storing smaller boats on land and heavy machinery for depositing them in the water.
During a tour of the Miami Seaquarium property with the Miami Herald, Martin said the marina would be a main revenue driver in his plans but would not dominate the 38-acre site. "The marina use is so powerful because it provides the business case that has the least amount of traffic," Martin said during a tour Friday after-noon, the final weekday for the Seaquarium. "I think the marina provides a certain foundation to the business plan that helps you be creative and innovative" in the rest of the site.
Martin laid out the broad sketches of a historic remaking of the Seaquarium from a dated theme park to the Miami area's newest marina and entertainment complex.
He's floating plans that include covering the iconic gold geodesic dome over the sea-lion theater and making it an all-weather event space.
He said he's also pondering waterfront "wellness" offerings modeled after another Martin project: the Well Residences condo complexes in Coconut Grove and Bay Harbor Islands. Those sites pitch health, nutritional and medical amenities to ultra-rich buyers. And while the Fishermen's Village restaurant concept might sound like fried shrimp and fries, Martin suggested high-end diners would be a target, too.
"We'll have a lot of casual, accessible stuff," he said. "Then we'll have some cool, more chef-driven concepts. ... I don't think there are that many places that really embrace the water from a food-and-beverage standpoint and from an experiential standpoint." Before he would take over the lease, Martin said the Seaquarium's current owners would be responsible for moving out the dolphins, sea lions and other marine mammals that were Seaquarium stars during its heyday then became fuel for animal-rights activists. Once they're gone, Martin and his Coconut Grove development firm, Terra, would assume a lease that will remain under the control of Miami-Dade County. None of this is final yet.
On Friday, a bankruptcy judge is scheduled to consider Martin's proposed $23 million payment to take over the remaining 30 years on the Seaquarium lease from its bankrupt parent, The Dolphin Company. From there, the County Commission would vote on whether to approve the transfer to Martin and a subsidiary of Terra.
So far, the signs look good for Martin.
Bankruptcy lawyers for The Dolphin Company said in court filings that Martin's plan is the best chance for them to raise cash from the distressed, money-losing Seaquarium operation, which they said was difficult to market as a development site given all the limitations that come with land ownership by the county.
On the county side, Martin has a track record of scoring the votes needed for his profit-making ventures involving public land. He and partners are building an 800-room hotel for the Miami Beach Convention Center with county financial support, and Miami-Dade commissioners picked Martin to build residential complexes at the Coconut Grove Metrorail Station and on a parking lot off the South Miami-Dade Government Center.
He has already received supportive statements from the two elected officials who will be key for approving a transfer of the Seaquarium lease: Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, who launched an eviction against the theme park last year, citing alleged animal mistreatment, and Commissioner Raquel Regalado, who represents Virginia Key.
Martin is a reliable donor in county politics. He's a philanthropic donor, too, serving on the board of the Underline urban-trail project, Teach for America and the Bass art museum in Miami Beach. Along with father Pedro Martin, Martin donated the Freedom Tower building to Miami Dade College 20 years ago, and his family foundation pays the charitable arm of the Miami Herald to fund some of the news organization's environmental journalism.
While the Seaquarium location on paper offers nothing but financial upside for Martin - a development site facing Biscayne Bay just minutes from downtown Miami - building there will require surmounting a string of legal hurdles.
That includes getting the state and local environmental permits needed to build a new marina, including constructing piers on bay bottom owned by Miami-Dade.
Martin said he's talking to environmental consultants about low-impact dredging and other technology. "A marina where you could optimize the slips, but at the same time mitigate the impact on seagrass," he said.
Aerial view of the Miami Seaquarium in Virginia Key two days before it closed on
Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, after 70 years in business. Pedro Portal pportal@miamiherald.com
His plan also relies on maximizing the uses allowed under the lease restrictions that Martin would inherit once the transfer is approved by Miami-Dade County.
In its early years, the Seaquarium offered tour-boat rides and other marine excursions, so the lease allows for the operation of a marina.
Parkgoers have long been able to order food and beer at the Seaquarium, so that covers Martin's plan for a collection of restaurants.
This is actually Martin's second planned theme-park conversion. He's also planning a condo tower on the current Jungle Island site on Miami's Watson Island, a project approved in a 2024 citywide referendum that will mostly retire the tourist attraction once known as Parrot Jungle in favor of a public park.
A Miami native who graduated from Christopher Columbus High before earning a law degree at the University of Florida, the married father of two school-aged children said his plans will reposition the property without abandoning the Seaquarium brand.
One task that Martin said is on his to-do list: preserving the "Flipper" cabin that was part of the set of the 1960s television show filmed at the Seaquarium.
Retaining the brand has legal advantages, too, with the word "Seaquarium" written into the County Charter as being exempt from the standard ban on commercial ventures on land that belongs to Miami-Dade's parks system.
Miami-Dade's lease requires the Seaquarium site to promote education in marine life, and Martin's announced plans include a nature center and other unspecified educational offerings. That could lead to a partnership on coral-conservation education with the Seaquarium's neighbor, the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science.
"I've had conversations with the dean and individuals at UM," he said. "It's something we're going to explore - hopefully - after our motion gets approved" in bankruptcy court.
Part of his announced vision for the Seaquarium property reflects the flip side of the lease allowances: what an operator is required to provide under the lease.
That includes an aquarium.
While watching parrot fish glide by the glass of the 250,000-gallon saltwater reef tank that the Seaquarium has maintained for years, Martin said his team plans to build the kind of aquarium complex that will be interesting enough to justify visitors buying tickets just to see it. And that's without any marine mammals - Martin said they'll all be relocated by the time he takes over, and he has no plans to bring any back.
"We've been studying aquariums across the country and across the world," he said. "We're also speaking to a lot of different operators about how to create a place that's going Lo be inspirational to children and to families ... but at the same time be fun and experiential and immersive. And how to do that with no marine mammals."