ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – A group led by dolphin experts, with financial backing from a Clay County couple, is a step closer to becoming the new owners of the historic Marineland Dolphin Adventure near the St. Johns-Flagler County line.
Marineland, which has been open to the public since 1938, was put up for sale over the summer as part of the bankruptcy process for its owner, The Dolphin Company. The Mexico-based company, which bought Marineland in 2019 and owns dolphin attractions around the world, filed for bankruptcy in March.
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Court documents show that a group called “#1 Apex Association, LLC” was the selected bidder at a bankruptcy auction held Monday afternoon. The group, led by Barbara and Jon Rubel of Green Cove Springs, along with dolphin expert Jack Kassewitz and former Marineland manager Felicia Cook, had a total bid of $7,135,000. That included a $6.5 million cash bid, plus non-cash consideration valued at approximately $635,000.
Apex Association was able to participate in the auction after a federal bankruptcy judge reopened the auction at a hearing Monday morning. The initial bankruptcy auction, held in October, resulted in a top bid from Texas-based developer Delightful Development LLC, which offered $7.1 million cash. An asset purchase agreement filed with the court as part of that bidding process indicated the attraction’s animals, which include 17 dolphins, would not be part of the sale, and would be relocated.
At an Oct. 27 hearing to potentially approve Marineland’s sale to Delightful Developments, a Delaware bankruptcy judge opted to postpone a decision on Marineland’s fate, saying that it wasn’t until she started reviewing letters opposing the sale that she learned the park was still operational, with dolphins and other animals living there.
One of those objections to the sale came from Kassewitz. He was one of the leaders of the coalition that became known as #1 Apex Association LLC, and argued it had been “shut out” of the bankruptcy auction, saying it had been told it could bid, until it was told two days later it could not. Initially, the group was prepared to offer $4 million for Marineland, with the Rubels providing an additional $1.5 million in start-up capital to keep the park running through the slower winter months.
Court documents filed last week indicated that attorneys for The Dolphin Company had been in talks with #1 Apex Association about a bid, but even after two extensions, no formal bid had been received from the group.
On Monday morning, at a hearing called to continue the process of finalizing the sale, attorneys for the owners said they had been in talks with the attorney for #1 Apex Association, and that on Nov. 6, they did submit a qualified bid valued at $6.5 million, along with all of the required documentation. Attorneys said that with the cost savings from not having to shut the park down, the owners viewed the bid on par, if not slightly ahead of, the offers from the developers.
The hearing then led to the judge reopening the auction, which enabled Apex Association to win. Delightful Development LLC was selected as a backup bidder, with northeast Florida developer The Hutson Companies as a second backup bidder, offering slightly less than Delightful Development. Before the first bankruptcy auction, Hutson Companies had submitted an initial baseline bid of $3.5 million for the property.
The judge is set to take up the potential sale of Marineland to #1 Apex Association at a hearing Wednesday morning. The hearing will also address the potential sale of three dolphins currently at Marineland. Capri and Soleil, along with their mother Sandy, arrived at Marineland over the summer from Gulf World Marine Park in Panama City Beach. Gulf World, also owned by The Dolphin Company, shut down earlier this year due to multiple dolphin deaths. The company had an offer from Theater of the Sea in the Florida Keys to purchase Capri and Soleil for $500,000, a deal that was then expanded to include Sandy. Kassewitz and other members of the coalition had filed objections to the sale with the court. Monday morning, attorneys said those objections had been withdrawn.