It’s a sunny day in Virginia Key, and restaurant owner and fourth-generation Miamian Adam Gersten is walking along a waterfront boardwalk. He’s angry about what could happen to the land surrounding him.
Gersten, whose Gramps Getaway restaurant sits near the Rickenbacker and Marine Stadium marinas, says he cannot believe Miami voters may approve a deal that could place nearly 28 acres of city-owned waterfront under a private lease lasting for generations.
“It’s a crooked deal,” Gersten says in an Instagram post. “This is a below-market giveaway of government land cooked up in back rooms.”
On Nov. 3, City of Miami voters will decide whether Virginia Key LLC should receive a lease covering approximately 28 acres off the Rickenbacker Causeway near Miami Marine Stadium. The agreement calls for an initial 45-year term with two possible 15-year extensions and approximately $80 million in private investment for redevelopment.
Virginia Key LLC, associated with RCI Group and Suntex Marinas, argues the project would modernize the aging marina facilities, improve public access and provide the city with more guaranteed revenue than it currently receives.
“Everything’s public,” said Robert Christoph Jr., president of RCI Marine, Inc. “We want this for everyone—for people who want to come and dine or have a date on the waterfront.”
The decision voters will face has been nearly a decade in the making.
The dispute began in 2017, when Virginia Key LLC submitted a bid for the city-owned marina property. Although the proposal was highly rated by the city administration, the city commission did not award the lease.
Virginia Key LLC sued, beginning years of litigation that eventually resulted in a judge ordering Miami to place the proposal before voters.
Joshua Ceballos, WLRN’s local government accountability reporter, has covered the proposal and legal fight surrounding it. He said the decision carries added weight because of the money involved.
“People should understand that the marinas are some of the main revenue drivers for the city of Miami,” Ceballos said.
The legal fight has stretched for nearly nine years, moving through lawsuits and court decisions while the future of the marina property remained unsettled. What began as a bidding dispute in 2017 has now become a decision for Miami voters.
In July 2026, the current operator of Rickenbacker Marina sued in an attempt to stop the referendum, challenging the agreement and how it would be presented to voters.
In August, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Lisa Walsh rejected the effort to remove the referendum from the ballot, confirming that voters would decide the issue in November.
One of the biggest disagreements is whether a deal originating in 2017 still represents appropriate value for Miami waterfront property today.
Critics argue that years of inflation and rising property values have made the lease terms less favorable for the city. The developer disputes that argument. Robert W. Christoph Jr., president of RCI Group, has said the agreement would provide more guaranteed rent than the current operator pays. A city-commissioned appraisal has also found that the proposed rent met fair-market-value requirements.
Former Miami Commissioner Ken Russell has also raised concerns about the redevelopment of the Virginia Key marinas. Russell was involved in the issue while serving on the City Commission, as the city considered competing proposals over what should happen to the waterfront property.
In an Instagram post from Sept. 15, Russell was vocal about where he stands on the referendum and how he believes the proposal would affect Virginia Key.
“I’m voting no on Referendum 3,” Russell said. “It doesn’t save Virginia Key; it paves it. I’m working … to make sure voters know what they’re voting on.”
For Gersten, however, the debate goes beyond money. He also has a sizable platform to make his case, with more than 700 followers on his personal Instagram account and another 22,000 following Gramps Getaway.
As the former owner of Wynwood pioneer Gramps and present proprietor of the Getaway, he is also a member of the Virginia Key Advisory Board. He worries redevelopment could change the character of one of Miami’s remaining distinctive waterfront areas.
“Why would you kill a golden goose?” Gersten said.
Public access has also become part of the debate. Some recreational boaters and opponents fear redevelopment could cater more to yachters and wealthy customers, potentially making the the marinas less accessible to working-class boaters.
Supporters argue the aging marinas need significant investment and that the proposal would bring approximately $80 million in private funding to improve the property.
Even if voters approve the referendum, development plans, permits and other details would still need to be finalized before redevelopment could move forward.
For some Miami voters and officials – including the Democratic Party – the Nov. 3 referendum is about more than just new restaurants, boat storage or marina improvements. The decision involves the value of the lease, public access and how many acres of city-owned waterfront should be used for decades to come.
For Gersten, what could be lost is harder to measure in dollars.
“Taking one of the few remaining places where you could walk down the street and understand what you are looking at as being unique to that area,” Gersten said, is what he fears Miami could lose.
