Jungle Island development OKs 48-story towers, 600 units

Written by Genevieve Bowen on November 5, 2025

A master plan for Miami’s Jungle Island redevelopment has been approved, allowing the construction of two residential towers with a maximum height of 48 stories and up to 600 total units while creating a 13-acre public waterfront park on Watson Island.

The Miami City Commission voted on Oct. 23 to approve the amended special area plan, now known as the Ecoresiliency Special Area Plan (SAP), along with a development agreement governing build-out, public park obligations, entitlements and other related public benefits.

The approvals pave the way for the joint venture between Terra Group and ESJ Capital to redevelop roughly 5.4 acres of the 18.61acre site, while preserving the remaining 13.2 acres as publicly accessible waterfront parkland.

Voters approved the project in a November 2024 special election, when 59% backed repurposing city-owned Watson Island land for residential and public uses. The full sale deal, completed in the summer, allocates $135 million for the land purchase, requires a public park to be delivered at no cost to the city and roughly $34.6 million in community benefits, including affordable housing contributions, infrastructure improvements and repayment of a HUD loan tied to the original Jungle Island theme park.

Under the amended special area plan, the two-tower development is capped at 48 stories, with a maximum of 600 residential units and up to 1.2 million sellable square feet, along with up to 25,000 square feet of retail or commercial space, parking, amenities and accessory uses.

Construction is to be in two phases, with the first tower and related infrastructure built before the second. Developers have also committed to long-term funding for park maintenance, public marine facilities, upgrades to the neighboring Ichimura Miami-Japan Garden and workforce initiatives, including hiring returning citizens and allocating construction work to small, disadvantaged local subcontractors.

The agreement also includes a $37 million allowance to design, fund and build the 13.235-acre public waterfront park, which is to combine active and passive recreation areas and focus on biodiversity education. Construction on the park is to begin within 18 months, followed by the residential towers, which are expected to take 30 to 32 months to complete.