Clearwater Marine Aquarium seeks bed tax grant for $32 million expansion
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Clearwater Marine Aquarium wants bed tax grant for expansion The Clearwater Marine Aquarium has a $32 million multi-year expansion plan that will add new habitats for animals, which it hopes to partially fund with a tourist development tax grant. What You Need To Know - Clearwater Marine Aquarium has a $32 million multi-year expansion plan - Clearwater Marine Aquarium has applied for $9. 8 million in bed tax money to help pay for the expansion - The aquarium wants to add new habitats for sea lions, sharks, albino alligators and penguins - The Tourist Development Council is expected to make their recommendations to Pinellas County commissioners this fall “Renovating this facility is going to be huge for us,” said John Handy, chief executive officer at Clearwater Marine Aquarium. “If we can entice people from across the world to come visit Clearwater, it has an echoing impact. ” Clearwater Marine Aquarium has requested $9.
8 million in tourist development tax dollars from Pinellas County to help pay for the renovations. In order to qualify for the capital funding grant, the aquarium must prove the new renovations will draw more visitors who spend the night. Handy believes Clearwater Marine Aquarium could more than double its current attendance. “That number could be in excess of a 100% increase of our current attendance,” he said. “So right now, our attendance hovers at about just under 400,000 visitors per year.
” Handy wants to renovate the original area of the aquarium which used to be a wastewater treatment facility until it was donated to CMA in 1978. A black curtain hangs around the empty giant rust stained pools, which used to house Winter the dolphin, the aquarium’s most famous marine resident who died in 2021. “The way the pools were originally structured was to accommodate the treatment facility,” said Handy. “What we're looking to do over the next few years is really enhance this facility to be able to accommodate different species of animals.