Aquarium could be coming to Jacksonville?

[jake_jax]

Why shouldn't Jacksonville get a real aquarium? The Florida Aquarium is mediocre at best, the new St Augustine Aquarium is only 8,000 sq feet...uuuummm thats the size of a PetSmart. The State of Florida does not have a real aquarium, some of the arguments I have read make me laugh. The Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga gets almost 1 Million Visitors a year and the Georgia Aquarium is 90 miles from it. We have 88 Million cars drive right by Jacksonville on I-95 a year, you are telling me that people wouldnt stop and visit a real aquarium in Jacksonville? Yes I agree Downtown needs more than an Aquarium and a USS Adams Museum. But its a great start to a new Downtown. Jacksonville needs more enticement then what we currently have. Did you know the Jacksonville Zoo has the largest attendance of any attraction in North Florida? You could sell out Everbank Field for every home game and the Zoo would still have a greater attendance. So I guess cities like Atlanta, Baltimore, Charleston, Corpus Christi, Dallas etc. havent benefited from an aquarium in their cities...The residents of JACKSONVILLE are never happy, they bitch that their is nothing here and then they bitch when something does happen.

[downtownbrown]

^^  "Hey, Honey, let's go drive 5 hours to see an aquarium.", said no one, ever.

[thelakelander]

Why shouldn't Jacksonville get a real aquarium? The Florida Aquarium is mediocre at best, the new St Augustine Aquarium is only 8,000 sq feet...uuuummm thats the size of a PetSmart. The State of Florida does not have a real aquarium, some of the arguments I have read make me laugh. The Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga gets almost 1 Million Visitors a year and the Georgia Aquarium is 90 miles from it. We have 88 Million cars drive right by Jacksonville on I-95 a year, you are telling me that people wouldnt stop and visit a real aquarium in Jacksonville? Yes I agree Downtown needs more than an Aquarium and a USS Adams Museum. But its a great start to a new Downtown. Jacksonville needs more enticement then what we currently have. Did you know the Jacksonville Zoo has the largest attendance of any attraction in North Florida? You could sell out Everbank Field for every home game and the Zoo would still have a greater attendance. So I guess cities like Atlanta, Baltimore, Charleston, Corpus Christi, Dallas etc. havent benefited from an aquarium in their cities...The residents of JACKSONVILLE are never happy, they bitch that their is nothing here and then they bitch when something does happen.

I probably travel more than the average person. I've been to every aquarium you named (except the St. Augustine fish tank being built)......ONCE. I don't plan on going back to any. I take a ton of road trips. I stop in all those towns on a regular basis.  None of my stops end up at an aquarium. Now that I've visited them one time, I'm more likely to drive straight through the town then delay my trip to look at fish swim around in circles.

Anyway, I really could care less if an aquarium is built in Jax or not. If we can pull it off....great. The more things to do in downtown, the better. My major concern would be expectations on what an aquarium can deliver (I think ours are way too high) and the ROI because public subsidies would definitely be needed to keep it afloat. The ROI would be the most telling. Once those numbers are revealed, then we can have a true debate on if investing in an aquarium is the best use of the amount of money needed to sustain it. Because at the end of the day, investing in it, means we're not investing in something else that could be just as worthwhile and important to downtown revitalization.

[jaxjaguar]

If it's not a fish tank like what they're building in St. Aug, but more along the lines of the Georgia Aquarium, I guarantee you people would come to see it. There is a very large community of fish keepers are teachers around the nation who are interested in this sort of thing. I, for one, was one of the hundreds of thousands who visited the Georgia Aquarium when it first opened. I went back 2 years ago to do the behind the scenes tour. Both times we made a trip of it and toured downtown Atlanta since everything is within walking / MARTA distance. I plan on making a return within the next year or two....

One of the things they did right compared to other aquariums is building something no ones else had. They didn't stop "once the job was done" though. They've continued to update sections and add new attractions, which is incentive to return.

[menace1069]

If it's not a fish tank like what they're building in St. Aug, but more along the lines of the Georgia Aquarium, I guarantee you people would come to see it. There is a very large community of fish keepers are teachers around the nation who are interested in this sort of thing. I, for one, was one of the hundreds of thousands who visited the Georgia Aquarium when it first opened. I went back 2 years ago to do the behind the scenes tour. Both times we made a trip of it and toured downtown Atlanta since everything is within walking / MARTA distance. I plan on making a return within the next year or two....

And that is my thought as well. Bring in an aquarium, the USS Adams, re-design of the Landing and any other various projects that are being talked about and we have  a vibrant downtown that people can visit. I would just like to see Jax become a more thriving scene and it has to start somewhere.

[thelakelander]

^The owner of Home Depot donated $250 million for the Georgia Aquarium.

http://www.aboutnorthgeorgia.com/ang/Georgia_Aquarium

If someone in Jax is going to donate that type of cash for an aquarium, I don't think there would be any debate on seeing something built.

[thelakelander]

If it's not a fish tank like what they're building in St. Aug, but more along the lines of the Georgia Aquarium, I guarantee you people would come to see it. There is a very large community of fish keepers are teachers around the nation who are interested in this sort of thing. I, for one, was one of the hundreds of thousands who visited the Georgia Aquarium when it first opened. I went back 2 years ago to do the behind the scenes tour. Both times we made a trip of it and toured downtown Atlanta since everything is within walking / MARTA distance. I plan on making a return within the next year or two....

And that is my thought as well. Bring in an aquarium, the USS Adams, re-design of the Landing and any other various projects that are being talked about and we have  a vibrant downtown that people can visit. I would just like to see Jax become a more thriving scene and it has to start somewhere.

That's great. The question is how much money will all of this (and more) take, and where does it come from? I've been in Jax for 10 years now. One thing I've noticed is that we can dream with the best of them. We just never take the next step in paying to make the dreams a reality. Since we don't have any cash and can barely maintain what we do have, we may need to find ways to initially improve the area without the big +$100 million projects.

[FSBA]

The proposed aquarium will have nothing on the Georgia Aquarium, Shedd, Monterey Bay, etc. All of those cost $250 million or more in today's money. The $100 million price tag for the proposed aquarium puts it in line with the regional aquariums that are a dime a dozen in the South (as others have noted.)

The issue I have had with the project since it was first announced is that its being sold as a silver bullet that will cure all of downtown's ails and there is no way it can be.

[ProjectMaximus]

My major concern would be expectations on what an aquarium can deliver (I think ours are way too high) and the ROI because public subsidies would definitely be needed to keep it afloat. The ROI would be the most telling. Once those numbers are revealed, then we can have a true debate on if investing in an aquarium is the best use of the amount of money needed to sustain it. Because at the end of the day, investing in it, means we're not investing in something else that could be just as worthwhile and important to downtown revitalization.

I vote this guy for mayor. 

[KenFSU]

The State of Florida does not have a real aquarium, some of the arguments I have read make me laugh.  We have 88 Million cars drive right by Jacksonville on I-95 a year, you are telling me that people wouldnt stop and visit a real aquarium in Jacksonville?

Does Sea World not count?

What about Epcot, which housed the largest saltwater aquarium in the world until the Georgia aquarium opened?

Both just over two hours away.

No stake in the race, but it's hard to argue that Florida doesn't have a real aquarium.

[fieldafm]

The State of Florida does not have a real aquarium, some of the arguments I have read make me laugh.  We have 88 Million cars drive right by Jacksonville on I-95 a year, you are telling me that people wouldnt stop and visit a real aquarium in Jacksonville?

Does Sea World not count?

What about Epcot, which housed the largest saltwater aquarium in the world until the Georgia aquarium opened?

Both just over two hours away.

No stake in the race, but it's hard to argue that Florida doesn't have a real aquarium.

Not to mention that the Georgia Aquarium also owns Marineland, which is about a half hour drive from downtown Jacksonville.

[Overstreet]

The proposed aquarium will have nothing on the Georgia Aquarium, Shedd, Monterey Bay, etc. All of those cost $250 million or more in today's money. The $100 million price tag for the proposed aquarium puts it in line with the regional aquariums that are a dime a dozen in the South (as others have noted.)

The issue I have had with the project since it was first announced is that its being sold as a silver bullet that will cure all of downtown's ails and there is no way it can be.

I'd be ok with that. Atlanta aquarium was average. They had the big ticket things that are on everybody's checklist.  Atlanta did have a rivers exhibit, but it was a little disconnected.  Bass Pro shops do a better job with highlighting local fish.   Monterey was great because of the kelp bed exhibit. Tampa is great because it has the best mangrove exhibit.  Big tanks with sharks, "flipper", and other ocean species are OK especially for kids that haven't been anywhere, but those specialty exhibits are way more informative.  Jacksonville would be unique with marsh exhibits........or maybe a jettys fish tank. 

[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?

[jaxjaguar]

^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.

[Charles Hunter]

^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 ...  :-)