City approves Clearwater Marine Aquarium's expansion plan

The Clearwater Marine Aquarium’s expansion plans have received approval from the city’s Community Development Review Board.About 800,000 people visited the aquarium last year thanks in part to “movie stars” Winter and Hope, the dolphins.Aquarium officials said they need more room.“There’s a problem with cars parking off-site right now, parking in the street, parking in off-site lots, also people walking across the street to come see us, that’s the issue we’re trying to resolve,” said David yates, CEO, Clearwater Marine Aquarium.The aquarium plans to double the facility on its current lot from about 60,000 square feet to about 130,000 square feet.Tanks for Winter and Hope will grow to 1.4 million gallons and a 440-space parking garage will be added.Some Island Estates homeowners attending the meeting said it’s catching them by surprise.“We are bitterly disappointed at the action of this board. To say we were properly advised as homeowners and were included as partners in this is absolutely untrue because we found out about this last Monday, which gave us three business days to respond and a holiday weekend in between,” said Vera Guinan.Residents said the aquarium has outgrown the neighborhood and they’re worried about large crowds and traffic if it expands.“The people that were in the know, that knew this was going on, were not the residents of the island and those are the people who are going to be the most affected,” said Skip Shepherd.Aquarium officials counter that the new plan will actually keep people from trying to park in the neighborhood and keep them on the aquarium’s property instead.“We’ve had a long-standing relationship with Island Estates for many, many years. So this is a big issue. We’re in a residential area. We understand the concerns. But we listen very carefully. For the last few years, I’ve heard a lot about the issue of taking the impact we make outside our facility and put it back on the lot, so we’re doing that right now,” said Yates.The aquarium decided against a plan to build a new, more expensive facility in downtown Clearwater and expand at its current location instead.Yates estimates the expansion will cost less than $50 million. 

City approves Clearwater Marine Aquarium"s expansion plan

Seattle Aquarium aims to make splash with huge expansion

Seattle Aquarium, Mithun

The circular blue building will house the new Tropical Pacific pavilion at the Seattle… more

The Seattle Aquarium is in the final stages of planning a grand expansion that will add at least 40 percent more exhibit space and cost at least $90 million to build.

The expanded aquarium will be equipped to attract nearly twice as many visitors as today along the future park-like post-viaduct waterfront.

“We are at capacity now on many busy weekends,” said aquarium President and CEO Bob Davidson. “And they’re projecting double the number of people on the waterfront after the viaduct comes down.”

Seattle Aquarium

To the east of the existing… more

Seattle Aquarium

With new facilities being… more

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The major added feature — and a departure from previous plans — will be a Tropical Pacific pavilion building that will rise to the east of today’s aquarium.

It will be a prominent feature along the Overlook Walk that will connect the waterfront with the Pike Place Market. And aside from better connecting the aquarium to the city, Davidson said, the new pavilion will introduce crowd-pleasing giant sharks.

Meanwhile, new Northwest waters exhibits — coastal Washington and Puget Sound — will emerge within a revamped waterfront facility that covers much the same footprint as the existing aquarium, though slightly extended to the west.

To a much greater extent than before, the Puget Sound exhibit will look out upon the Puget Sound itself.

“We want to be providing an experience that engages people in understanding the Puget Sound and the Pacific,” Davidson said. “Our purpose is to help visitors engage with the animals and life in the sea in a personal, visceral context that they can’t get from TV.”

There’s no design or firm cost estimate yet. The city has committed about $34 million toward an eventual $45 million that has been earmarked for the aquarium as part of the Central Waterfront Project.

Aquarium officials aim to raise at least an equal amount from private donors, Davidson said. Chicago-based Campbell & Co. has been hired to help devise the fundraising campaign.

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Seattle Aquarium aims to make splash with huge expansion

Ground broken for Texas State Aquarium expansion

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) – Ground has been broken for the Texas State Aquarium’s largest expansion in the organization’s nearly 25-year history.

Ceremonies were held Wednesday in Corpus Christi for the $50 million project including a four-story wing called Caribbean Journey.

Aquarium officials in June announced plans for the 65,000-square-foot wing that will join the original Gulf of Mexico exhibit building. The Caribbean Journey will complete the final two phases of the aquarium’s master plan. Construction should be completed by early 2017.

Aquarium president Tom Schmid says the new wing means visitors will get to see more fish, sharks and other sea creatures. The complex will also include an education center.

Officials say more than 11 million visitors have been through the Texas State Aquarium since it opened in 1990.

Online:

http://texasstateaquarium.org/

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Ground broken for Texas State Aquarium expansion