For decades, plans to redevelop Virginia Key and the Rickenbacker Causeway have come and gone. Now, much of the corridor is moving at once.
Miami voters recently cleared the way for Oak View Group’s Global Spectrum to operate the Marine Stadium. Next door, voters are scheduled to decide on an approximately $80 million redevelopment of the Rickenbacker and Marine Stadium marinas by Virginia Key LLC, a joint venture of the RCI Group and Suntex Marinas. Across the island, Terra Group is pursuing redevelopment of the former Seaquarium property.
The Seaquarium proposal may be the most environmentally consequential. Miami-Dade has applied to state regulators for a marina with 325 wet slips and dry storage for another 500 boats, including nearly 90 spaces for yachts longer than 80 feet. The plans include extensive docks and fueling infrastructure. Terra Group, the bidder that purchased the lease from a bankruptcy proceeding, maintains dredging will not be necessary, and they are actively trying to gain consensus among environmentalists for what they say will be a net benefit to the Bay. However, scale matters because Biscayne Bay is already under significant stress.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has asked Miami-Dade, who submitted permits on behalf of the developer, for additional information on wetlands, seagrass, coral, dredging, sewage pump-outs, fuel spills and water quality.
That creates an awkward tension for Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, who has called herself a “Water Warrior” and made Biscayne Bay restoration a central part of her environmental agenda.
Then there is the road connecting everything.
The Key Biscayne Community Foundation’s Melissa White and Rumya Sundaram, who together wrote a commentary piece on the future of Virginia Key amidst upcoming new developments.
Bernard Zyscovich’s Plan Z, now in its second iteration, remains part of the Rickenbacker Causeway discussion off Key Biscayne with support from the City of Miami. Key Biscayne is funding a feasibility study for a newer concept called the Shoreline that includes the Bear Cut Bridge and prioritizes traffic flow, public safety, and environmental concerns. Will the Shoreline move forward or will the plans merge? The Bear Cut Bridge PD&E is in limbo.
For Key Biscayne, that raises another question. Our Village government has historically served as a check on decisions affecting Virginia Key and the Causeway, including legal challenges involving the Seaquarium property, Miami International Boat Show, and Ultra Music Festival. The current Village Council and administration have maintained a much lower public profile as these projects advance.
Perhaps that reflects their confidence that the larger infrastructure issues, particularly the Bear Cut Bridge and the Rickenbacker Causeway, will be addressed.
They will need to be.
After decades when almost nothing happened on Virginia Key, nearly everything is happening at once, while the one piece that makes it all work—the Rickenbacker Causeway—remains unresolved.
Without a functional bridge and roadway system, everything else will fail.