MIAMI — Two developers are looking at plans for the county-owned Miami Seaquarium site as the marine park’s owner deals with bankruptcy proceedings.

Leer en español

But what those two developers could have in store for the Virginia Key site remains an open question.

Park’s future up in the air

The fate of the Seaquarium is now playing out in federal court filings after The Dolphin Company, which operates the 38-acre parcel on public county-owned land, filed for bankruptcy, which paused the county’s eviction proceedings.

“The bankruptcy court has asked us to pause the eviction track,” District 7 Commissioner Raquel Regalado told Local 10 News on Monday.

In this window of litigation, two developers, Terra Group and Integra Investments, are eyeing a potential opening, exploring what redevelopment uses are permitted on the site as the bankruptcy judge considers selling The Dolphin Company’s lease with Miami-Dade County.

Regalado said the bankruptcy court will “choose who better fits (the) financial situation to take that spot” and then bring it to the county commission.

“I will bring that item, it will go through the public process and we will determine if we accept that amendment of the party to this lease,” Regalado said.

When asked if she knew what Terra and Integra had both proposed, Regalado said: “I have only been informed of the Terra proposal, which was presented as a stalking horse under the bankruptcy rules, which was just an opportunity to discuss with me and the county attorneys what the intended uses are and what uses are and are not permitted.”

What Integra is proposing is harder to say. Entire slides of its redevelopment proposal have been redacted, page after page, with details blocked out under a notation that trade secrets are exempt from public disclosure.

The firm’s portfolio does showcase marinas, which Regalado said would be a permitted use at the site, even under Article 7 of Miami-Dade’s Home Rule Charter governing parkland, which reads that the site should be “held in trust for the education, pleasure, and recreation of the public.”

What does the charter say?

Regalado said marinas are “within the existing uses of the lease.”

“This property is held by this lease and this lease did contemplate a dock and the county has a tremendous need for marina space and dry dock storage,” Regalado said. “One of the reasons that we have so much congestion on the Rickenbacker (Causeway) is that we do not have marina space.”

Daniel Wehking, an attorney and former Miami Seaquarium animal caretaker and diver, said he doesn’t buy it.

“I wish I could say I was shocked, but it’s the most Raquel Regalado thing to say is that, ‘We’re getting parkland, so I’m going to turn it into boat parking,’” Wehking said. “It’s protected under Article 7 of our Home Rule Charter that says that parkland has to be protected and used for the people and recreation and preservation. And she’s turning around and trying to sell it to developers.

“She’s turning around and giving the Dolphin Company, that has committed all these horrible things to the animals that they were charged with caring for, an opportunity to profit off of their lease, when the lease shouldn’t exist anymore. And now she’s going to give them an opportunity to try to sell it somewhere else, which is particularly egregious when you know that the lease says that the county has to approve anyone that it’s sold to.”

Regalado said the county is “not in a position to purchase” the lease on a “very expensive piece of land.”

“So as much as we would love to make it a park, the county cannot afford to make this a park,” she said. “We just went through an entire process on trying to eliminate fees that we charge at parks. And our park system has a lot of issues.

“One of the things that I plan to do with this property is (that) whatever funds would come to the county would go directly to our parks department to help us with our existing parks and to expand our park portfolio.”

And regardless of which redevelopment plan is eventually approved by the county commission, residents may still have to pay to park at the “park” on public land. Regalado used the nearby Crandon and Bill Baggs parks on Key Biscayne as an example.

“The Seaquarium was no different,” she said. “There is no conflict between having to pay and it being public by Article 7 — anyone who can pay can participate at this site."

But Regalado said what won’t be built there is a water park, owing to litigation with Key Biscayne and possible environmental issues.

Regalado said that while she hopes to see an aquarium at the site, it would not include the showcasing of marine mammals for profit.

“This is not a circus,” she said. “We don’t have elephants anymore as part of these attractions. I’m concerned about the well-being of the marine mammals and I don’t think that they should be showcased in anything that is associated with the county.”

What would stay, Regalado said, is the park’s “iconic” gold dome amphitheater.

“It’s a non-negotiable for me,” she said. “I won’t bring the item if it doesn’t include the dome.”

A spokesperson for Terra Group told Local 10 News he can confirm that “Terra is one of several groups that has expressed interest and they’re under a strict NDA (non-disclosure agreement)” preventing them from commenting, he said.

Meanwhile, an Integra Group spokesperson said, the site “is a treasured place that should benefit our community for generations to come and we are excited to propose a thoughtful project to achieve that goal.

“We look forward to sharing our proposal with the community when we are permitted to do so.”

Florida launches criminal investigation into The Dolphin Company

In May, following the death of several dolphins over a span of five months at The Dolphin Company’s Gulf World Marine Park in Panama City Beach, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier posted on X that his office opened a statewide criminal investigation into the marine park and The Dolphin Company.

On Facebook, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) thanked Uthmeier for “your leadership on this matter,” adding that “the FWC is fully committed to coordinating with the Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution to ensure justice is served and Florida’s marine life is protected from abuse.”

On Monday, Local 10 News reached out to the Attorney General’s Office and FWC to inquire if state investigators and prosecutors also plan to investigate marine mammal deaths at the Miami Seaquarium.

In an email, an FWC spokesperson said the agency “is supporting the State Attorney’s Office in the still-active Gulf World investigation,” and is not involved in an investigation into the Miami Seaquarium.

It comes as a spokesperson for the fisheries division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration told Local 10 News that one of the surviving dolphins from Gulf World was transferred to the Miami Seaquarium in June:

Local 10 News has not heard back to requests for comment sent to the U.S. Department of Agriculture about the current status of any plan to relocate animals at the Miami Seaquarium.

Dolphin Company seeking to sell animals

The Dolphin Company is also requesting permission from the bankruptcy court to sell its “animal assets,” writing in its filing that “not only will the sale and transfer of these Animals bring value to the Debtors’ estates, it will also aid in the Animals’ welfare and safety.”

The Dolphin Company, based in Mexico, operates more than 30 attractions, including marinas and dolphin habitats in eight countries across three continents.

The company told the bankruptcy court its parks are home to “approximately 2,400 animals from more than 80 species of marine life, including hundreds of marine mammals (such as dolphins, sea lions, manatees, and seals), birds and reptiles. As of 2023, the company’s marine mammal family included approximately 51 sea lions, 18 manatees, and 18 seals.”

County wants eviction to move ahead

Miami-Dade County, meanwhile, wants the bankruptcy court to allow it to evict The Dolphin Company and reclaim the property.

In a July filing, the county told the court that the Seaquarium “requires millions of dollars of capital improvements in order to come into compliance with the Lease, and the Debtors’ monthly operating reports confirm that The Seaquarium’s admission receipts are insufficient to cover operating expenses.”

In its filing asking the court to lift the automatic stay so it can conclude the eviction case and “regain possession of the park,” the county also requested that the bankruptcy court “compel the Debtors to remove all marine mammals, fish and other animals from the Park by a date certain to prevent further harm and injury.”

As of the publication of this article Monday, Local 10 News has not received a response to a request for comment sent to The Dolphin Company.

Copyright 2025 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.