J Magazine Winter 2018

“The aquarium has really been the
catalyst for economic development
in our downtown. It has been the
cornerstone that we’ve built on to
bring so many other things into
downtown Atlanta.”
WILLIAM PATE
CEO of the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau
Indeed, they are numerous as the teeth
in a blacktip reef shark (which, yes, is also
a creature you might see in a Downtown
aquarium).
“It would create so much dynamic
momentum in our Downtown,” Maloney
said. “It would be a marquee attraction on
our riverfront. And the fact is an aquarium
is really something that we can make
happen in this city.”
Maloney paused to let those words sink
in.
“This isn’t,” he said, “a far-fetched dream.”
It’s not pipe
dream stuff
Maloney’s right.
There is no doubt that putting an
aquarium in the downtown of a major
American city isn’t just pipe-dream stuff.
And Piltz is right.
There’s plenty of evidence that
an aquarium can serve to ignite
massive improvements and dramatic
transformations in a major American city’s
downtown area.
Just ask Baltimore, where the popular
National Aquarium has been an engine
driving massive urban renewal in the
downtown Inner Harbor area — and has
had an annual $360 million-plus economic
impact on the city, according to a 2017
report done by the Sage Policy Group, a
Maryland-based economic consulting firm.
In an email response to J magazine,
Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh hailed the
role of the National Aquarium as a catalyst
for downtown economic growth and job
creation.
“The National Aquarium is a tremendous
asset to Baltimore,” Pugh stated.
“(It) supports almost 4,000 jobs,
contributes $30 million in annual tax
revenue to the city and the state and
engages thousands of students each
year through its environmental literacy
initiatives.”
Or just look at Atlanta, where the
Georgia Aquarium — the largest aquarium
in America with more than 100,000 animals
and various tanks containing a total of
more than 100 million gallons of water —
has served as an economic bedrock that
has done these things (and more) since
opening in downtown Atlanta’s Centennial
Olympic Park area in 2005:
n Attracted nearly 30 million visitors in
less than 15 years.
n Attracted 2.44 million visitors —
67 percent of them from outside metro
Atlanta — during 2017 alone.
n Spurred $1.7 billion in new investment
around Centennial Olympic Park since its
2005 opening — and another $417 million
worth of projects under construction or
development.
n Lit the fuse on an explosion of familyoriented
museums and attractions that
have been built in Centennial Olympic
Park in the wake of the Georgia Aquarium’s
popularity — all within walking distance
of the aquarium (including the Center
for Civil and Human Rights, the World
of Coca-Cola Museum and the College
Football Hall of Fame).
n Increased Georgia’s gross domestic
product by $4.4 billion over 12 years.
In a phone interview with J magazine,
William Pate, CEO of the Atlanta
Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the
Georgia Aquarium has been the “anchor
for tourism in downtown Atlanta.”
“The aquarium has really been the
catalyst for economic development in our
downtown — there’s absolutely no doubt
about that,” Pate said. “It has been the
cornerstone that we’ve built on to bring
so many other things into downtown
Atlanta.”
And that’s been huge, according to Pate.
“Atlanta is a convention city,” he said.
“What the Georgia Aquarium does is far
more than just bring millions of people
to our city. It also gives people attending
conventions a reason to bring their
families, too — and maybe stay an extra
day to see all the other family attractions
that the aquarium has led to us having.”
Keep in mind that cities like Baltimore
and Atlanta don’t have city identities
strongly linked to the water, certainly not
anywhere nearly as deep as the ties that
Jacksonville has to the St. Johns River and
the Atlantic Ocean.
There is a reason, after all, why the
declaration “Jacksonville is the water life
center of America” — a phrase coined by
truJax, a nonprofit working to promote our
city’s connection to the waterscape — has
such resonance.
It’s because it’s true.
Shouldn’t that alone be a compelling
reason to actually build an aquarium in our
Downtown?
Shouldn’t that be enough motivation to
make it a reality?
A popular
grassroots idea
Clearly, plenty of people in our city
think so.
“People may talk or debate how we go
about getting an aquarium in Downtown
Jacksonville,” Maloney said, “but I don’t
know anyone who doesn’t like the idea of
an aquarium in Downtown Jacksonville.”
It’s an idea that took life several years
ago when local community figures J.J.
Hammond and George Harrell cofounded
AquaJax.
The nonprofit quickly drew an
expanding list of supporters, volunteers
and contributors — including Piltz, a
marine biologist who previously worked
for the state before taking her current
position as a JEA environmental scientist.
And with that growing base of advocates
in place, AquaJax publicly began to push
its vision for a Downtown aquarium in
venues and forums all across the city.
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J MAGAZINE | WINTER 2018-19