David Martin

Martin has become one of the biggest developers in South Florida, with a focus on luxury condo, mixed-use, retail and public-private projects. 

A lawyer by training, he started Terra Group with his father, Pedro Martin, formerly of Greenberg Traurig, in 2001. Terra’s key projects include the Rem Koolhaas-designed Grove at Grand Bay in Coconut Grove, Five Park, Eighty Seven Park and Glass in Miami Beach. 

Martin made a name for himself as someone who can make complicated projects happen, though not all deals make it to the finish line. He attempted a more than $500 million buyout of the Castle Beach Club condo tower in Miami Beach, which ultimately failed. He also was under contract to purchase Genting Group’s massive assemblage of land in downtown Miami for more than $1 billion, but that deal also fell apart.  

His to-do list of ambitious developments includes the Deauville Beach Resort property in Miami Beach with the controversial Meruelo family and a planned lease takeover of the Miami Seaquarium property on Key Biscayne. 

The development team behind Eighty Seven Park, which was built next to Champlain Towers South, were among the defendants sued in a class action case brought by the victims’ families and survivors of the Surfside condo collapse in 2021. The insurer for the Terra-led development team kicked in $28 million to the $1 billion-plus settlement, without admitting liability. His family owns Bernardo Garcia Funeral Homes.