Construction starts on Mote’s $130 million Science Education Aquarium near UTC mall
The $130 million Mote Science Education Aquarium (Mote SEA), which was first announced in 2018, is under construction at Nathan Benderson Park.
Initially, it was thought that construction could possibly start by late 2019, but the project needed a lot of funding, and then there was the COVID-19 pandemic. After breaking ground in the fall of 2020, Mote is starting to go vertical with the long-awaited facility.
The 110,000-square-foot, multi-story building rising on 12 acres near the Mall at UTC has a futuristic design that features 1 million gallons of water for exhibits. The aquarium is projected to attract more than 700,000 visitors a year.
“We anticipate being complete in winter of 2024. As for the cost, we’re still trying to land the project as close as possible to the initial projection of $130 million,” Kevin Cooper, Mote’s vice president for communications and strategic initiatives, said in an email to the Bradenton Herald.
“Throughout execution, we’ve experienced cost fluctuations in both directions and continue to buy early when prices are advantageous and hold if we anticipate the potential for future savings,” Cooper said.
In 2018, Michael Crosby, president and CEO of Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium, highlighted the economic, educational and scientific benefits that the new facility could bring.
“Science is the attraction. It’s something that is going to benefit each and every person in this entire region,” Crosby said previously.
Mote secures local tourism funding
In 2020, Manatee County Commissioners approved $5 million of Manatee County’s tourism taxes toward the new facility.
The allocation came more than a year after Mote asked Manatee County Commissioners to provide $15 million in funding toward the facility.
The county commission voted 6-1 to approve $1 million over five years. The county’s money will pay for the naming rights of a new manatee habitat exhibit that also raises awareness about water quality and red tide, according to Mote documents.
“I think there’s nothing more important than protecting our coastlines and our water quality, and we can do it while promoting tourism,” then-county commissioner Misty Servia said in 2020.
Sarasota County Commissioners voted unanimously to commit $20 million of county tourist development funds to Mote SEA.
Other funding is being raised through philanthropy and partnerships.
By Sept. 30, 2022, more than $100 million in philanthropic, public and private support had been committed to the construction of the SEA, Mote said.
New aquarium is ‘rebirth’ for Mote
On its web page, Mote says of SEA: This planned rebirth of our public aquarium on the mainland will transform our ability to provide informal science education and enhanced levels of ocean literacy to much larger and more diverse populations from around the world. Notably, Mote SEA will serve as a regional hub for expanding marine science and technology education and inspiration to every K-12 student in our community.
The aquarium project is expected to have a $280 million impact over the two-year construction period and a regional annual impact of $28 million, Crosby previously said.
Mote officials say the facility at Benderson Park will help lead to the next step in the evolution of the City Island campus into an enhanced International marine science, technology and innovation park with an additional 60,000 square feet of new, state-of-the-art research infrastructure at 1600 Ken Thompson Parkway.
Mote also has an inland research facility on Fruitville Road where it is conducting studies on red tide.
