Look, while we point to Atlanta as an example for Greensboro's downtown aquarium let's be real, Greensboro is no Atlanta. But Greensboro is a far bigger city than Chattanooga, home of the wildly successful Tennessee Aquarium. And no, we don't have a river which means we'll not need to spend $10 to $30 Million Dollars each time we need to build a bridge across the river. You think buildings are expensive, try building bridges.
So why build an aquarium downtown? From Lisa Ashmore's Aquarium as Urban Savior: Is it Time to Redesign the Aquarium Model?:
"But regional aquariums don’t all have to have blockbuster, budget-crunching buildings. “We’re seeing a lot more $30 million aquariums than $100 million aquariums,” Kuttner said. They can outperform zoos, according to the architects, since their footprint is smaller, there are more species comparatively, and they’re usually convenient to a lot of people. And they’re inside, something that makes a big difference for summer travelers."
So what did the Tennessee Aquarium cost to build? Yes, I know we'll probably have to spend more but the total cost of building the Tennessee Aquarium came to $75 Million Dollars just $3 Million Dollars more than the original and most likely most accurate GPAC estimate we've heard to date. And did I mention our Aquarium could be designed so that it could be built in stages so that the earlier stages could finance the construction of the latter stages?
But Greensboro is already building an aquarium at the Natural Science Center? So, Tampa, Florida has 4 aquariums and Kansas City is considering a second aquarium. Look, we all know you want to attract people here, right? By working together the Natural Science Center could display fish that aren't found at the downtown aquarium or other aquariums and the downtown aquarium could offer discounted passes to the Natural Science Center to drive visitors there as well as to other area attractions. Compliment, not compete. After all, there's more than one way to make money with a boat and there's more than one way to make money with an aquarium.
Did I mention aquariums employ a lot of high paid scientists and technicians? Or that they work with the chemical and pharmaceutical industries in producing new drugs, chemicals and other high tech products? Did I mention aquariums attract university programs? And while I don't know for sure, I'm even betting my friends over at the nanocenter could find uses for a state of the art aquarium. What's that? I never told you I have friends in very high places at the nanocenter? I've known them since long before there was a nanocenter.
I called up my last boss yesterday and mentioned what I was up to. The first words out of his mouth, "Now that's something I would take my family to." He and his family were vacationing out of state.
Without dropping any names, my last boss is in his 30s, owns several successful Greensboro businesses that he and I built during the recent down economic period and a couple that didn't fare so well. He employees about 30 Greensboro residents, is a really nice guy, has 3 young children, married and lives in a big paid-off home in one of Greensboro's high end neighborhoods. And he made it before he inherited his daddy's substantial chunk of money. He went on to tell me that the only thing his family ever does in downtown Greensboro is to visit the Greensboro Children's Museum.
Now I don't know for certain but I'm thinking my last boss and his family (He has a successful brother here as well.) are exactly the demographic Downtown Greensboro has been desperately trying to attract for years but has never managed to reel in. Wonder why?
If you draw a circle around the Piedmont Triad that covers everyone within 3 hours driving from Greensboro you get 4-5 Million people. If you can draw 1/4 to 1/5 of that number you get 1 Million visitors a year. If we network with the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro we can boost attendance to both attractions as well as the areas many other lesser known attractions. Now where are the closest competing aquariums? Fort Fisher, NC, 224 miles and Ripley's Myrtle Beach, SC, 196 miles. And unlike Fort Fisher, you won't get bitten by fire ants in Downtown Greensboro. Sorry, I couldn't resist.
Of course, we shouldn't build a downtown aquarium unless Greensboro wants a downtown aquarium. And unlike GPAC, we shouldn't spend $300,000 of City money to find out if Greensboro wants a downtown aquarium. And we don't have to. With social networking tools like the Greensboro Aquarium Facebook Page we can gauge if Greensboro wants a downtown aquarium. 137 likes in 2 days? Not bad considering that the GPAC Facebook page got 194 likes in almost a year.
And finally, as I pointed out yesterday, I believe it can be done with private funding if it is determined that Greensboro really wants a downtown aquarium.
So instead of why build a downtown aquarium, the question becomes, why not build a downtown aquarium?
And about that identity Greensboro has been searching for...
