{"id":91621,"date":"2025-12-21T17:32:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T17:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/91621\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T17:32:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T17:32:13","slug":"man-of-the-future-developer-david-martin-is-kbis-newsmaker-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/91621\/","title":{"rendered":"Man of the future: Developer David Martin is KBI\u2019s Newsmaker of the year"},"content":{"rendered":"

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David Martin, a businessman whose dazzling development projects are already transforming Key Biscayne, is the Independent\u2019s Newsmaker of the Year for 2025. His Terra Group of companies is making over the former Silver Sands <\/a>hotel and also the entry block of the island. <\/p>\n

Both of Martin\u2019s 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\u2019s famous barrier islands.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks brother,\u201d Martin said when he was on the list, quickly adding he didn\u2019t deserve it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ah, but he does.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"David Martin speaks at a Key Biscayne Village Council Meeting, Aug. 27, 2025 (KBI Photo\/Tony Winton)<\/p>\n

The Shoreline proposal<\/a> \u2013 an approach his company funded with the help of Commissioner Raquel Regalado and legal lion Eugene Stearns \u2013 has a chance of permanent change so tempting, that Key Biscayne\u2019s Council pumped nearly a million dollars of seed money<\/a> into it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For years, the Rickenbacker has been the Causeway people love to hate.\u00a0 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\u2019s growing skyline?\u00a0<\/p>\n

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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)<\/p>\n

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 \u2013 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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But then, there\u2019s the most recent Martin project: the redevelopment of Miami Seaquarium<\/a>. 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe are going to use a futuristic lens,\u201d 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\u2019s plan would create a new \u201cenvironmentally appropriate\u201d marina while retaining an educational aquarium on the site. For many, outraged by the death of Lolita<\/a> the killer whale, the change can\u2019t come fast enough.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Reader\u2019s Choice: Ed London<\/p>\n

While Martin is all about speeding up change, Ed London, the Key Biscayne council member, is about slowing spending down \u2013 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\u2019s signature public works project, the biggest in the island\u2019s history. Cost projections have soared to at least $80 million just for Zone 1.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Ed London, a memebr of Key Biscayne Village Council, at a greound breaking for Paradise Park, Feb. 18, 2025 (KBI Photo\/Tony Winton)<\/p>\n

London has managed to slow \u2013 but not stop \u2013 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.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cI\u2019m not buying this,\u201d or, after one of his hyperbolic statements, to drive home a point \u2013 even if it\u2019s unpopular with his council colleagues.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"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)<\/p>\n

In making London, the 85-year-old dean of the Council, the readers\u2019 choice, several commenters praised his watchdog ways. <\/p>\n

\u201cA rock star,\u201d one reader wrote. \u201cQuirky yet very savvy, he is an independent thinker who is not afraid to speak his mind,\u201d said another.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

Like Martin, London is also a developer, but he\u2019s been a big supporter of the island\u2019s film festival and \u2013 though he won\u2019t talk about it \u2013 has his hands in extensive philanthropy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He was similarly reticent when told he was the reader\u2019s choice. \u201cThere are other\u00a0 people that are much more qualified,\u201d he said, \u201cmuch more deserving than me.\u201d He quickly endorsed Melissa White, the leader of the Key Biscayne Community Foundation (the reader\u2019s runner-up choice).\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s an angel,\u201d London said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Invest in Local News for Your Town. Your Gift is tax-deductible<\/a><\/p>\n

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\n \"\" <\/a><\/p>\n

\n Editor-in-Chief <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\t\t
\n \"John <\/a><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Martin, a businessman whose dazzling development projects are already transforming Key Biscayne, is the Independent\u2019s Newsmaker of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":91622,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[42940,25534,49269,589,33792,123,125,124,23666,1358,4990,49270,42577,33801],"class_list":{"0":"post-91621","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami","8":"tag-david-martin","9":"tag-ed-london","10":"tag-eugene-stearns","11":"tag-featured","12":"tag-melissa-white","13":"tag-miami","14":"tag-miami-headlines","15":"tag-miami-news","16":"tag-miami-seaquarium","17":"tag-raquel-regalado","18":"tag-rickenbacker-causeway","19":"tag-silver-sands","20":"tag-terra-group","21":"tag-virginia-key"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}