(The following stories appeared in Southpoint in 1990.)

Florida Aquarium Announced in Tampa

By Bob Andelman

Tampa is on the verge of becoming the "Wild Kingdom" of the South.

A public-private partnership will spend $80 million to build the Florida Aquarium in downtown Tampa. At 60,000 square feet, promoters claim it will be the largest water attraction in the country when it opens in 1993. Officials are already purring at the triple crown marketing opportunity: Tampa is already home to 300 species of animals at Busch Gardens and the Lowry Park Zoo is in the midst of a $20-million modernization program moving animals out of steel cages and into lush habitat recreations.

"It's going to be a wonderful area to see wildlife," says Woody Peek, director of tourism and marketing for the Tampa/Hillsborough Convention and Visitors Association. "We won't be offering the animated Florida as much as we will the real Florida. While Orlando is a wonderful experience, it's man-made. You look at Lowry Park or Busch Gardens - they're real."

Building the Florida Aquarium has been the dream of accountant Bill Crown for years. To make the project happen, he and city officials arranged for bonds backed by the Fuji Bank of Japan. Later, as the aquarium's sport fish, shallows, children's zoo, coral reef and shark tank take shape, corporate sponsors will be sought for specific exhibits to defray costs.

"(But) we have to be quite careful," says Crown. "It'd be easy to call Exxon. I have very mixed feelings about that. I don't want to sell my soul or accept what some people would consider 'dirty' money. ... Perhaps an oil company that hasn't had quite the publicity of Exxon (would be right) for the deep water exhibit. I think it would be appropriate for any oil company contemplating offshore drilling."