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Aquarium may dock at former cruise terminal

 
Secrets of the Seas aquarium that was to go in John's Pass and was the Pier Aquarium before that,  is close to leasing old cruise terminal bldg. at St. Petersburg Port.  	
Secrets of the Seas aquarium that was to go in John's Pass and was the Pier Aquarium before that, is close to leasing old cruise terminal bldg. at St. Petersburg Port.
Published March 12, 2015

ST. PETERSBURG — The Secrets of the Sea aquarium, formerly known as the Pier Aquarium, could open by October in the city's former cruise ship terminal at 250 Eighth Ave. SE.

A contract for the nonprofit to rent the 9,000-square-foot space at the city's port is in the works and should go before the City Council by early April.

The 25-year-old aquarium hoped to open in John's Pass after the Pier closed in 2013. But there was a delay in securing a construction loan and the new owners of the retail complex scrapped the lease.

If the aquarium ends up at the port, it will be a preview center for a bigger presence down the road. The group's ultimate goal is to have a much larger facility, according to Mark Luther, head of the aquarium board. It could end up at the site of the former Pier since several contenders call for a marine education component, or have a larger presence at the port.

For now, the former cruise terminal is a perfect fit, Luther said. Its waterfront location has 4,000 interior square feet and an additional 5,000-square-foot covered, open-air section. Since it once served tourists loading onto small cruise ships, there are bus circles that could soon accommodate 45,000 students a year. That's how many students toured the Pier Aquarium, which was 2,200 square feet.

The former inhabitants of the Pier Aquarium have been farmed out to tanks around the area including the USF St. Petersburg University Student Center and Guy Harvey RumFish Grill restaurant in St. Pete Beach.

"We will mostly accrue new fish. It's stressful for them to move a lot," said Luther. Patrons associate the Pier Aquarium with a Nemo-esque clown fish and long, winding eels. The new aquarium will definitely include a clown fish and eels, but probably not the same ones, Luther explained.

The inhabitants are one of the least expensive components of an aquarium. Tanks, exhibits and employees cost much more.

Secrets of the Sea has between $150,000 and $200,000 on hand or committed by donors, Luther said. That should finance the cost of opening the new facility, but it hopes to raise $150,000 more to cover initial operating costs. Admission, grants and revenue from renting space for private functions would ultimately cover day-to-day costs.

The city will make improvements to the building including new carpet, paint and lighting with $200,000 in city and state grants, according to Dave Metz, the city's director of downtown enterprise facilities.

Other than limited offices, the building has been empty for about a decade since the last cruise ship sailed from St. Petersburg.

Because it's too shallow to attract the big ships, the city's 3-acre port has tried to lure yachts and marine research vessels in recent years. The aquarium could bring locals and tourists to the area with its exhibits as well as live music and food trucks on the weekends.

"Right now the world stops at Sixth Avenue SE," Luther pointed out.

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"This provides a good public use of public land and public facility," Metz said of the proposed aquarium lease. "It could lead to something long-term." The lease will be for three to five years, he said.

Along with interactive exhibits, including a touch tank, the Secrets of the Sea aquarium is slated to have a theater where guests can view real-time ocean habitats around the world and Blue Ocean Film Festival movies.

Several exhibits were already created for the John's Pass location, and sit in storage ready to go. Science on a Sphere can project real-time imaging using satellites of aquatic habitats around the world. It can also show film footage from locations such as the water around the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Luther said.

Another exhibit, Corals on Acid, compares a habitat with low and high acidic levels.

The Secrets of the Sea aquarium aims to educate guests not just on the sea life but on the myriad of components that hurt and help it and the marine science that researches it.

"The premise is the visitors are becoming junior sea sleuths," Luther said.

The port setting aids in that because of its proximity to the C.W. Bill Young Marine Science Complex, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Geological Survey, the National Marine Fisheries Service and SRI International, a nonprofit group whose research includes navigation and marine technology.

Contact Katherine Snow Smith at kssmith@tampabay.com. Follow @snowsmith.