Live with the Dolphins

The permanent human population is just 10-which means if dolphins ever get the right to vote, then watch out, Mr. Mayor. But the demographics may be changing thanks to Jim Jacoby, Marineland's Atlanta-based owner.

Jacoby, an innovative developer renowned for his eco-friendly approach, is overhauling the attraction and building single-family homes, condominiums and a resort hotel on adjacent property.

Adding additional interest to the project is its architect-Duany Planter Zyberk and Company. Andres Duany designed Seaside, a retro community in the Florida Panhandle that won international acclaim and launched the New Urbanism movement, in which modern master-planned communities borrow turn-of-the-century themes.

For Marineland, Jacoby and Duany offer a much-needed fresh start. The attraction-at the heart of which is world's first oceanarium-opened in 1938, but closed temporarily 60 years later as a result of declining attendance and competition from glitzier, action-oriented tourist destinations in Orlando.

Jacoby, president of Jacoby Development Inc. (JDI), bought 40 acres in Marineland on the west side of S. R. A1A in 1998. He then bought the attraction in 2002, after a non-profit set up to run it filed for bankruptcy.

His total Marineland holdings now encompass about 160 acres, which encompass the 90-acre River to Sea Preserve, the oceanarium and the University of Florida's Whitney Lab.

Perhaps surprisingly to some, Jacoby's first order of business was to revitalize the historically significant attraction, not bulldoze it. He quickly added a Penguins Up Close exhibit and a Paint with the Dolphins section, where visitors can get close to the dolphins and take home an original work of art created by the intelligent mammals.

Gradually, people wishing to enjoy a more intimate and relaxed getaway than can be found at the megaparks have begun to return. Joy Hampp, director of operations, says attendance is 10 to 15 percent above last year's numbers. "We're trying to appeal to nostalgia, but at the same time find ways to get kids to want to come," Hampp says.

In the meantime, Jacoby is moving ahead in his effort to remake Marineland into a thriving multi-use community in which the attraction will play a central role.

What had been a 90-acre RV park has been converted into a nature preserve and renovations are under way on an 85-slip marina on the Intracoastal Waterway. Also in the works: a new dolphin lagoon complex on the north side of the park along the ocean, where the sea lions and penguins currently live.

The lagoon, which will ultimately be connected to the 450,000-gallon oceanarium, will be used for dolphin breeding and for "dolphin-assisted therapy," through which people with physical or emotional problems are able to interact with dolphins.

Residential development will include about 100 condominiums, 80 single-family homes and 25 mixed-use units with office space on the first floor and loft apartments on the second floor. An 80-room hotel with retail shops and a restaurant will overlook the marina.

"We hope to break ground this fall on the first building, most likely the condo portion," says Carl Hampp, director of development and Joy Hampp's husband.

In Duany's master plan, he describes Marineland as becoming "a gateway community that promotes and preserves a sustainable environment for citizens and visitors, providing environmental, educational and recreational experiences. The solid environmental background of the traditional planning principles behind the design, together with the commitment of the developer, will make Marineland one of the most uniquely attractive residential options in Florida."

JDI is perhaps best known for developing retail centers anchored by Wal-Mart stores. But during the 1990s, Jacoby began to seek out non-traditional projects that called for the redevelopment of environmentally sensitive or blighted sites into mixed-use properties "with socially beneficial features," according to Chad Martin, Jacoby's partner in the Marineland project.

For example, JDI is now transforming the old Atlanta Steel Mill in Midtown Atlanta into Atlantic Station, where 10,000 people will eventually live and 30,000 people will work. In Altamonte Springs, north of Orlando, the company created a lively downtown center around an abandoned borrow pit.

But Jacoby's interest in reviving Marineland has a more personal component. He is a founding investor in Aquathought Labs, a Fort Myers-based company affiliated with the Aquathought Foundation, which studies the neurological impact of dolphin interaction on people with disabilities. Jacoby has a daughter with a neurological disability.

"Jim doesn't talk about that much," says Martin. "If it comes up in conversation and he believes it would help someone to know, he might mention it. But that's something he deals with quietly."

Greg May, a 46-year-old Orlando time-share salesman, says he's just happy to see Marineland getting a new lease on life. May has visited the attraction almost every year since 1965.

"I was eight years old and I was hooked," he says. "Ever since then, I've made an annual pilgrimage. I still get a thrill when I see the dolphins do a triple flip."

Soon, May and others like him can visit the dolphins without ever leaving home.

Jerry Jackson of the Orlando Sentinel also contributed to this story.