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.
David Martin speaks at a Key Biscayne Village Council Meeting, Aug. 27, 2025 (KBI Photo/Tony Winton)
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?
Cars in a 7-mile traffic jam on the William Powell Bridge exiting Key Biscayne, Sunday April 14 2024 The jam came on the first day of two-month closure of the flyover ramp from Key Biscayne to I-95 and U.S. 1. (KBI Photo/Tony Winton)
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.
Never miss a story! Sign up for our FREE newsletter
“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.
Ed London, a memebr of Key Biscayne Village Council, at a greound breaking for Paradise Park, Feb. 18, 2025 (KBI Photo/Tony Winton)
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.
Key Biscayne Vice Mayor Ed London, left, and Council Member Luis Lauredo listen to debate during a final 2022 budget hearing, Tues. Sept. 21, 2021. The two were on the losing side of several attempts to cut spending and taxes. The Council approved a $35.5 million budget that sets the stage for two dozen projects in the coming years. (KBI Photo/Tony Winton)
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.
Invest in Local News for Your Town. Your Gift is tax-deductible
Editor-in-Chief
Tony Winton is the editor-in-chief of the Key Biscayne Independent and president of Miami Fourth Estate, Inc. He worked previously at The Associated Press for three decades winning multiple Edward R. Murrow awards. He was president of the News Media Guild, a journalism union, for 10 years. Born in Chicago, he is a graduate of Columbia University. His interests are photography and technology, sailing, cooking, and science fiction.
JOHN PACENTI is a correspondent of the Key Biscayne Independent. John has worked for The Associated Press, the Palm Beach Post, Daily Business Review, and WPTV-TV.