Public Aquarium Question

Mahlhavoc

Mahlhavoc

New member
If someone had the land available (large enough for large exhibits and parking) and the intrest in a possible public aquarium, does anyone know how this kind of a large operation gets funded?

I understand some public and private funds are involved, but how would one start it? In the area I live there isnt much available in this area and it is a thought I am pondering and I am at stage one .. "Hmm, what if . ."
 
You'd have to get an analysis done for feasibility, perhaps a project for a community college? Once that is one and looks promising, get the *mega* rich folks in your area to pledge funds. Once you have some funding and a promising analysis, try to get your local townships to donate public lands to get some local support. The support from the mega-rich can help in this as if they are supportive - then the local towns will be more inclined to follow suit. That would be a start & this much alone could easily take 3-5 yrs. I've seen this tactic used where you have private funding and the cities will donate land as urban renewal/development.

If you can, find a major benfactor, such is the case in some of the better public aquariums such as Monterey Bay and Georgia.

HTH?
James
 
Yeah, that helps some, and from a quick research. . $40-$70 Million :eek2: from the aquariums like $60 mill for Hawaii or San Frans Bay was $40mill

Well I have the land already available so this is a plus, and I know in the surrounding states of Kansas, Iowa, Colorado,Missouri (me) there isn't a large public aquarium and this could generate plenty of State and City income via tourism and it intrigues me a bit. A public Aquarium in Kansas City Missouri 10 minutes from the Stadium and 5 Minutes from the (now being built) Bass Pro Shop.

Sounds like alot of work and may be way Way WAY out of my scope and nothing more than a passing idea unfortunatly. :(
 
Denver tried to do an aquarium 5-6 years back and the aquarium tanked. It was really cool too. And that was in a major city and right down town next to Invesco Field and The Pepsi Center.

And I remember reading that the Atlanta Aquarium had one of the cofounders of Home Depot donate $200 million to help start it.
 
Well I'm working on accomplishing this huge task in OKC. We are starting off by acquiring/building exhibits and equipment through our existing organization. When we have enough resources together we will be looking into a location in the "trendy" downtown area. Most likely this will involve the renovation a large building in the bricktown warehouse district. We will start off on the smaller scale to help with the initial monetary expenses and will expand every few years as our budget allows. This is very similar to how the Dallas World Aquarium was built, one phase at a time, all the while keeping it changing and as unique as possible. The Oceans Journey Aquarium in Denver was built on a large scale with "other" people's and city's funding. This led to massive overspending in the construction phase. This isn't the only reason for the failure but the other reasons were pretty much a variation on this theme. The construction and opening costs were too much to overcome. Even with good attendance, the investors had to sell out to Landry's for much less than was spent on the opening costs.

If you have the right "big money" investors that have the desire to do things right, it can come together very nicely, just like Monterey and Georgia Aquariums. Monterey was started with the Hewlett Packard family and Georgia by the founder of Home Depot. Both of these parties have much more interest in an educational public aquarium instead of treating it just like another project. A public aquarium is a highly unique business and if not properly started or maintained can come apart at the seams for countless reasons.

Here's a link on a couple of exhibits we obtained from the Monterey Bay Aquarium that will help a great deal in reaching our goals. It's basically a photo essay of the removal of two large shark tanks. Unfortunately I got a little side tracked on the second page, sorry for that, but you can get the idea of what we're trying to do.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=935586

G.
 
What happened to the little one they were doing in St Louis?
The Denver Aquarium was bought by Landry's a yr or 2 ago, I hear it's being rebuilt though haven't heard any updates lately.
The major benefactor idea seams to be about the best way these days. Monterey was started from the Packard Foundation (David Packard from Hewlett Packard) and yep the Georgia Aquarium was from the founder of HD.
The AZA resource center could be helpful but there are a ton of folks competing for the same dollars.
We looked at it here a coupla yrs ago and it was *alot* of work, to keep going would have necessitated me quitting my day job which wasn't gonna happen.
Do you have a major reef club in your area? If so - bring it up. I've never seen a grass roots aquarium realistically conceived - would be very cool :)

James
 
Hi ya, James!,

I hope the "grass roots" thing can work out as well, I'm about as grassy as it gets!:D

You know I'd accept donations from any source.... I'm working with moons, colorata and hopefully soon achlyos.;)

G.
 
hint hint hint hint....hmm, got your NPO yet? ;)
I'll see what I can do, I do have some "reject" (unfinished) PKs that might help. Bad forming, functional - just ugly. Might be able to help with other stuff as well before long.
Either way, send me an update sometime when you feel so inclined.

James
 
I was only kidding, but hey that sounds great! Your "rejects" are probably other manufacture's works of art! I'll keep in touch, I'll have to do something soon, I have a moon jelly population explosion right now. Some PK tanks would come in real handy right now. I guess there are worse problems to have.


Thanks,

Gary
 
I know that the owner of the Bristol Motor Speedway just opened a saltwater store in Bristol, TN and it's awsome. You just have to know people or be able to contact people.
 
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