Miami Seaquarium 99-Year Lease Stalls in County Committee; $100M Redevelopment Faces Dec. 30 Deadline
A Miami-Dade County Board committee on entertainment, tourism and resilience ended in deadlock on November 10 over a proposed 99-year lease for the former Miami Seaquarium site, postponing the vote without setting a new date and throwing developer Terra Group's redevelopment plan, worth at least $100 million, into uncertainty. The 38-acre Seaquarium on Virginia Key closed on October 12, 2025, after 70 years of operation.
Terra Group CEO David Martin plans to build a new aquarium without marine mammals and a 295-slip marina on the site, with affiliate Resilient Aquarium LLC taking a 99-year lease. According to Terra, the Delaware bankruptcy court has set a December 30 deadline: county approval of the lease must come before then or the deal could collapse. County Commissioner Raquel Regalado, who represents the district, voted against postponement and urged faster action. Environmental groups raised concerns about the marina's impact on Biscayne Bay, and voters on November 3 rejected another redevelopment plan for the island.
Mayor Daniella Levine Cava needs approval from the full Board of County Commissioners to sign the lease. The board will sit as a zoning board on November 19 to consider new land-use rules for the parcel. Terra said its team still has a chance to win approval before the deadline but acknowledged the timetable set by the bankruptcy court and creditors is beyond its control.
Source: USA Today
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：迈阿密海洋馆旧址的单轨列车车厢。图片来源：Wikimedia Commons，TimothyMN 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0。 Image: A monorail car at the former Miami Seaquarium. Source: Wikimedia Commons, photo by TimothyMN, CC BY-SA 4.0.
