Aquarium could be coming to Jacksonville?

[thelakelander]

^To be honest, I enjoyed the World of Coca-Cola better than I did the Georgia Aquarium. No chance for a World of Maxwell House? By the same token, I enjoyed the authentic Pike Place Market last week in Seattle. I skipped the aquarium and Space Needle. So, what's the place you go to for the unique Jacksonville experience?

I think Maxwell house doesn't realize how big of a marketing move tours would be. With local craft coffee and beer consumption on the rise this would be an excellent opportunity to get coffee fanatics into your building to try unique brews (similar to world of coke). If the Budweiser plant can offer 2 free beers a day, a hospitality area and several tours/classes onsite I don't see why an addition to this facility couldn't operate in a similar manner.

Especially with the Intuition Aleworks Brewery opening up next door to them. It would be really cool to have a joint tour.

That last part will have to wait for cannabis legalization ...  :-)

Do that and this is what the space formerly known as the Shipyards would end up resembling.....

[Todd_Parker]

^To be honest, I enjoyed the World of Coca-Cola better than I did the Georgia Aquarium. No chance for a World of Maxwell House? By the same token, I enjoyed the authentic Pike Place Market last week in Seattle. I skipped the aquarium and Space Needle. So, what's the place you go to for the unique Jacksonville experience?

I think Maxwell house doesn't realize how big of a marketing move tours would be. With local craft coffee and beer consumption on the rise this would be an excellent opportunity to get coffee fanatics into your building to try unique brews (similar to world of coke). If the Budweiser plant can offer 2 free beers a day, a hospitality area and several tours/classes onsite I don't see why an addition to this facility couldn't operate in a similar manner.

Especially with the Intuition Aleworks Brewery opening up next door to them. It would be really cool to have a joint tour.

That last part will have to wait for cannabis legalization ...  :-)

but if you didn't want to wait, that "joint tour" could turn into a tour of "the joint" (i.e. - The Jacksonville Detention Center); conveniently located by many of the aforementioned locales.

[ProjectMaximus]

So, what's the place you go to for the unique Jacksonville experience?

I think it's not even in Jacksonville...Downtown St Augustine. Within the city limits, I guess it's probably riding the skyway haha! If Hemming Park keeps improving and can spur more local development in its vicinity, I could see that area being the new Jax experience in the next several years. Obviously the Landing is key and it needs to once again be that centerpiece, but sadly I don't see that happening anytime soon. 

[FSBA]

AquaJax's facebook page is teasing a big announcement in the next two weeks. Anybody here know anything?

[copperfiend]

AquaJax's facebook page is teasing a big announcement in the next two weeks. Anybody here know anything?

They bought a betta fish

[KenFSU]

AquaJax's facebook page is teasing a big announcement in the next two weeks. Anybody here know anything?

Fuddruckers at the Landing.

Duh

[Noone]

AquaJax's facebook page is teasing a big announcement in the next two weeks. Anybody here know anything?

The Baltimore guys are coming back 2014-412.

[thelakelander]

Study indicates bringing aquarium to downtown Jacksonville a possibility

The group trying to bring an aquarium to downtown Jacksonville has passed one hurdle: A feasibility study has been done showing the plan is feasible.
Now the real work begins, including raising the $100 million that will be required to build First Coast Aquarium.

"What we've done [is] a study looking [at] whether it's worth pursuing," said Robert Blais, of ConsultEcon, a Massachusetts firm that has been involved in studies and plans for thousands of aquariums, zoos and parks around the world.

"But we don't have that answer," he said. "You have the answer. What we've said is 'This is your potential if you [go with] the type of project that is reflected and the rest of the waterfront is developed.'"

The key numbers the study produced:

1 $100 million initial investment, including $85 million for the building and $15 million for animals, staff and start-up costs.

1 Mid-range attendance is projected at 1,054,451 for the first year, stabilizing at 844,000 by the third year.

1 Mid-range economic impact of $101.3 million a year.

1 Admission price would be $21.95.

Full article: http://jacksonville.com/business/2015-10-13/story/study-indicates-bringing-aquarium-downtown-jacksonville-possibility

[I-10east]

I already went over my disinterest with having a Jax aquarium, so I'm not gonna beat that dead horse. The Portland Aquarium is gonna close. Before that was the World Aquarium in STL. Even going unique with different animals isn't the answer sometimes; Like the Georgia Aquarium have been having problems with deaths of whale sharks, beluga whales and Commerson's dolphin. In this age of PC liberalism (were sometimes animals have more value than humans seemingly) the unexpected deaths of animals could result to mass boycott, and ultimate failure like what happened in Portland and St Louis. Not to mention all of the backlash that Sea World has been getting. 

http://koin.com/2016/02/15/portland-aquarium-closes-doors-monday/

http://kplr11.com/2015/09/07/world-aquarium-closing-its-doors-today/

[CCMjax]

I already went over my disinterest with having a Jax aquarium, so I'm not gonna beat that dead horse. The Portland Aquarium is gonna close. Before that was the World Aquarium in STL. Even going unique with different animals isn't the answer sometimes; Like the Georgia Aquarium have been having problems with deaths of whale sharks, beluga whales and Commerson's dolphin. In this age of PC liberalism (were sometimes animals have more value than humans seemingly) the unexpected deaths of animals could result to mass boycott, and ultimate failure like what happened in Portland and St Louis. Not to mention all of the backlash that Sea World has been getting. 

http://koin.com/2016/02/15/portland-aquarium-closes-doors-monday/

http://kplr11.com/2015/09/07/world-aquarium-closing-its-doors-today/

If you read the whole article it says both those cities are opening new aquariums in other parts of the city.  The Portland one outgrew the small space they had while the St. Louis one is moving to a bigger, better facility.  It doesn't sound like they are closing for good. 

[Ocklawaha]

1 Mid-range attendance is projected at 1,054,451 for the first year, stabilizing at 844,000 by the third year.

The Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens has had a fifth consecutive year of record attendance. The zoo welcomed 938,000 guests in 2015. I'm guessing their numbers are a bit optimistic?

[RWNeal]

1 Mid-range attendance is projected at 1,054,451 for the first year, stabilizing at 844,000 by the third year.

The Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens has had a fifth consecutive year of record attendance. The zoo welcomed 938,000 guests in 2015. I'm guessing their numbers are a bit optimistic?

I dunno, Ock. My family has visited the Tampa Aquarium several times over the past decade, but we haven't been to the Zoo there once.

[I-10east]

If you read the whole article it says both those cities are opening new aquariums in other parts of the city.  The Portland one outgrew the small space they had while the St. Louis one is moving to a bigger, better facility.  It doesn't sound like they are closing for good.

I made a mistake; STL's World Aquarium reopened, but the Portland Aquarium MAY open in another location.

www.worldaquarium.net

[pierre]

The Portland aquarium was always a disaster. I don't think it had as much to do with it being an aquarium as much as it had to do with the people running it. They got in trouble for illegally buying marine animals and were under investigation for high death rates. I would be very, very surprised if they ever reopened in another location.

[KenFSU]

Didn't take long for the vultures to start moving in.

https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/local/organization-eyes-downtown-sites-including-landing-for-future-aquarium/77-fe1733c1-0187-489a-9a72-fda795b9e005