Washed-up Miami Marine Stadium Awaits its Historic Makeover

Between the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel Campus and the Wastewater Treatment Plant on Virginia Key rests an abandoned marine stadium. What once was a pillar of entertainment for Miami has been left to the forces of nature and vandals.

But this August, the people voted to restore the stadium to its former glory via renovation.

Now, the city and private sector will work together to reinvent the stadium over the next few years and bring Miami residents back to Virginia Key to enjoy waterfront events, just like they did until Hurricane Andrew hit in 1992.

The Miami Marine Stadium was built in 1963 by the Cuban-born American architect Hilario Candela, with a mid-century brutalist style and a dredged-out basin to host events on the water. With an open-air layout, the audience experienced breezes from all directions, cooling them down on sweltering days. 

“The stadium itself is naturally air conditioned, because it was designed so that all of the seats are in shade from noon, all day, for the rest of the year. And because it's open to the ocean breezes from all four sides, the average temperature inside the stadium is always 10 degrees cooler than the air around it,” said Donald Worth, a leader of the Restore Marine Stadium advocacy group.

Events such as boat racing and concerts were popular through the decades. Artists like Queen, The Who and Jimmy Buffet played on floating stages for over 6,500 viewers. Even Elvis Presley shot one of his movies, the 1967 film “Clambake,” in the stadium.

The stadium was not limited to entertainment, as political events like the Young Voters Rally with Richard Nixon in 1972 also put the massive waterside venue in the national spotlight.

But all of that came to a half when the City of Miami shut it down in 1992 due to structural damage caused by Hurricane Andrew. Ever since, it has been abandoned with occasional groups attempting to fund a restoration.

On Aug. 18, voters approved Referendum No. 172 which allowed for a private firm, Oak View Group, to move on with restoration of the stadium. The developer’s former CEO was indicted by a grand jury in the summer of 2025 “for orchestrating a conspiracy to rig the bidding process for an arena at a public university in Austin, Texas,” according to the Justice Department.

Damian Pardo, a commissioner for the City of Miami since his election in 2023, is one of the main fighters for the restoration of the stadium.

Before Pardo, there was not much political support behind renovation. Groups like the former Friends of the Miami Marine Stadium (now Restore Marine Stadium), were working behind the scenes but progress accelerated during collaboration with Pardo.

After years of disagreements and doubts, the idea gained momentun.

“We hadfive commissioners sponsor it, which is very much unheard of in the city of Miami,” Pardo said. “My constituents want to see it restored. The voters overwhelmingly supported the referendum, 70%, which is quite a high number, but if you were to look at my district, the average was, like, 75%, 74%.”

Pardo is the commissioner of District 2, which includes Coconut Grove, Brickell, Downtown Miami and Virginia Key. These districts are in direct connection with the Rickenbacker Causeway, the main connection to the marine stadium.

Since the stadium’s closure, funding the restoration has been a major hurdle. The previous mayor, Francis Suarez, and the current mayor, Eileen Higgins, have been generally against renovation based on the idea that it would’ve required tax dollars to fund.

According to the deal struck between the city and Oak View Group, the firm will provide up to $10 million towards funding, with the city fronting the rest. 

Instead of using tax dollars, Pardo said, the city will fund the project using the revenue collected from the stadium.

“Once it generates revenue, the city can use that stream of revenue to underwrite a bond for the restoration of the stadium...that doesn't touch taxes,” he explained.

Pardo believes that by year three after the restoration, the revenue should stabilize towards paying the $65 million to $85 million that the project is estimated to cost. A city analyst last year found that it would cost up to $54 million to restore the stadium, lower than Pardo’s estimate.

Funding isn’t the only issue that the project faces. Traffic within the City of Miami and neighboring Key Biscayne will be impacted by the return of a stadium. Traffic doesn’t just impact drivers, but local businesses in the area.

The Rusty Pelican, a restaurant on the northern tip of Virginia Key near the causeway, is one of those businesses. The Rusty Pelican’s doors have been open since 1972, and its owners have watched the rise and fall of the Miami Marine Stadium.

Melissa Betancourt, the catering sales manager at the Rusty Pelican, wondered about the impact a renovated stadium could have on her restaurant.

“Whether it’s going to be positive or negative, I don't know...I guess it depends what they do,” Betancourt said.  “We’ve got to kind of see how it plays out.”

As the restaurant sits right next door to the stadium, more people coming to the area could both be a blessing and a curse. With an operational stadium, there would naturally be more people “close by, they're going to be hungry and they're going to come visit us,” Betancourt said. “I'm happy to see it coming back to life, honestly. It's been sad seeing it sit there for a long time.”

On the other hand, her biggest concern is the inevitable influx of traffic.

“We also have events...and guests who are trying to get here on time. So if it affects that, then I can see it being a negative impact on us.” Betancourt recalled the Ultra Music Festival in 2019 as the worst-case precedent, calling the traffic during it “absolutely atrocious.”

Concerns about congestion are due to arise. Key Biscayne and the City of Miami are notorious for traffic, especially during rush hour. Stakeholders are cognizant that a renovated stadium would draw thousands of cars to the key.

“We sit with the village of [Key Biscayne], and we talk about these issues. We listen, we want to make sure that we're not disrupting the quality of life in the key,” Pardo said.

Part of this conversation is the Shoreline Project, a conceptual coastal resilience plan that both alleviates traffic congestion and creates safer pedestrian crossing to Virginia Key.

“The shoreline would change really all of it…we're part of those presentations, and we work with Commissioner Regalado on the Shoreline Project. We are very supportive of the project. We think it will only enhance everything that could happen in Miami Marine Stadium,” Pardo said.

The community is at the heart of this restoration, advocates say. Worth, of Restore Marine Stadium, noted that much of Miami's best waterfront property is privately owned, and unavailable to average residents.

“Miami's best physical asset is the waterfront. It's fabulous, but, frankly, most of the waterfront is owned by the wealthy,” Worth said. “The Marine Stadium needs to be the People's Stadium, giving people access to the waterfront. And in my mind, that means community events, free events, even treating the Marine Stadium as a park, because, you know, for a family of four to go out there at sunset, and watch the rowers row and watch the buildings light up one by one, you have a fabulous experience.”

A full look at the Miami Marine Stadium. (Video by Maximus Santos)