Wall Street Found Our Shoreline

There's a pattern happening across America, and most people have felt it before they could name it.

Your vet clinic got bought, and prices went up. A hospital chain changed hands, and the billing got aggressive. Rents climbed after big investors moved into the housing market. The name behind the pattern is usually the same: private equity.

What private equity actually is

A private equity firm pools money from big investors and uses it to buy businesses. The goal is simple and legal: make the investment grow, then hand the profits back to the investors. There's nothing shady about the idea itself.

But it means every decision — prices, staffing, what gets built and for whom — is made to serve investors who may live a thousand miles away. And it works best on things people can't do without. When you buy something scarce that people need, you don't have to compete very hard. You can just charge more.

That's why private equity keeps showing up in the same places. This isn't a partisan complaint: bipartisan polling released this July found large majorities of voters in both parties worried about private equity taking over health care and veterinary care (83%), housing (81%), and child care (67%) [1]. A bipartisan U.S. Senate report in 2025 examined what happened when these firms bought hospitals — its title was "Profits Over Patients" [2].

Health care. Housing. Child care. Now add one more to the list: the shoreline.

The Miami deal, in plain English

On November 3, City of Miami voters will see a ballot question asking whether to lease about 27.62 acres of public waterfront on Virginia Key — the Rickenbacker Marina and Marine Stadium Marina — to a company called "Virginia Key, LLC." The lease runs 45 years, with renewals that can stretch it to 75 years [3].

"Virginia Key, LLC" sounds local. Here's who's actually behind it: a joint venture of RCI Marine Group and Suntex Marinas of Dallas, Texas — the largest standalone marina owner in the country [4].

And behind Suntex? In 2021, Suntex took a major investment led by funds tied to Centerbridge Partners, a New York private-equity firm [4]. In 2024, Suntex and Centerbridge expanded the partnership into a joint venture to buy more than $1.25 billion worth of marinas across the country, backed by a credit line of up to $600 million led by Wells Fargo [5].

You don't have to take our word for any of this. It's all in the companies' own press releases.

Here's the part worth reading twice: the chairman of Suntex Marinas, William Rahm, is also the global head of real estate at Centerbridge Partners. The same person. Both jobs. Their own announcement says so [5]. This isn't a marina company that happens to have Wall Street backing. At the top, the marina company and the Wall Street firm are the same people.

Their own words

Why are Wall Street firms buying marinas? Rahm explained the business case in that same 2024 announcement: boating enthusiasts keep buying "more and bigger boats," he said, while good marinas and boat storage stay scarce [5].

Read that again. Scarcity is the business model. Bigger boats are the customer. If you own a 17-foot fishing boat — or you don't own a boat at all, and you just like to cast a line from the seawall or launch a kayak — ask yourself where you fit in that plan.

Seventy-five years is longer than most of our lives

A baby born in Miami this year will be in their seventies when this lease could finally end. The next real chance to renegotiate comes around 2101.

And the price is already set — in the past. The lease's rent floor is anchored to a 2017 appraisal, with no reset to market value, ever. The big number on the ballot — about $204 million — is just the minimum $2.2 million a year, growing at the smallest allowed rate, added up over 45 years [3][6].

Miami is a business town, and this isn't anti-business. Free enterprise means competitive bidding at today's prices. This deal is the opposite: no new bidding, terms frozen from a decade ago, locked in for three generations. Miami voters already rejected a 75-year lease of this same public waterfront once, in 2021 — and this version gives the city even less [7]. It's back on the ballot because of a court order, with language the City Attorney admitted was negotiated with the developer — and, in his words, "the court never reviewed that ballot language" [8].

What you can do

The waterfront belongs to the public. Wall Street's business model needs scarcity. Ours needs access.

On November 3, look for the Virginia Key marina lease question near the end of your ballot — and vote NO.

• Register to vote by October 5
• Request a mail ballot by October 22
• Early voting: October 24–31
• Mail ballots must be received by 7 p.m. on November 3 (postmarks don't count)

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Sources

1. Lake Research Partners, bipartisan national polling on private equity, released July 30, 2026 (as summarized in Holland & Knight, "Private Equity Firms Must Be Prepared for Increased Congressional Scrutiny," Aug. 2026).

2. U.S. Senate Budget Committee, bipartisan staff report, "Profits Over Patients: The Harmful Effects of Private Equity on the U.S. Health Care System" (2025).

3. City of Miami certified ballot title and summary; Resolution R-26-0254.

4. Suntex Marina Investors LLC, press release, "Suntex Marinas Announces Recapitalization Led by Centerbridge and Resilient Capital Partners," Mar. 24, 2021 (PRNewswire).

5. Suntex Marina Investors LLC / Centerbridge Partners, press release, "Suntex Marinas and Centerbridge Partners Announce Joint Venture to Acquire Over $1.25 Billion in New Marinas," Apr. 3, 2024 (PRNewswire).

6. Virginia Key LLC proposal, RFP No. 16-17-011, §4.1.6 (rent anchored to 2017 appraisal; minimum escalator).

7. Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections, official results, City of Miami charter amendment, Nov. 2021 (52.74% NO, 145/145 precincts).

8. City of Miami Commission meeting, June 11, 2026, certified transcript (City Attorney statements re: ballot language).