GULFPORT, Mississippi -- Spend any time at all with David Kimmel and Kurt Allen and it quickly becomes clear the new Mississippi Aquarium under construction in Gulfport is in good hands.
Kimmel, the aquarium president and CEO, and Allen, the senior vice president and chief operating officer, have a level of excitement and enthusiasm for what they are doing that is palpable.
“The aquarium is going to be so much more than just the physical campus,” Kimmel said. "It’s the impact it will have on the coast community. The educational programs we’ll have. Our education people are sitting right now on the floor above us working on those educational programs and plans.
“This is the people’s aquarium, not ours. Kurt and I are fortunate to be able to come here every day and be a part of it and be the caretakers for it. But this is their aquarium.”
Both men came to the Mississippi Aquarium project from the Georgia Aquarium, where Kimmel was the president and COO from 2010 to 2014, while Allen was the vice president and general manager of Marineland Dolphin Adventure, a subsidiary of Georgia Aquarium.
An aquarium for the Mississippi coast had been in the works for some time, dating back to an ill-fated plan to construct one in D’Iberville. But when that plan fizzled, the City of Gulfport quickly jumped on the idea.
“I think the City of Gulfport had been looking for something,” Kimmel said, “something family-friendly to being people downtown.”
Allen noted the destruction of Marine Life, a marine park built in the 1950s at the Port of Gulfport and destroyed during Hurricane Katrina, left many people hoping for a replacement of sorts.
The $93 million project, which includes design, construction and land acquisition costs, is being funded through $30 million from the City of Gulfport, $24.5 million from the State of Mississippi through the issuance of bonds, and $17.5 million in monies received through the settlement of the BP oil spill in 2010.
Both men emphasize what the aquarium has already done for downtown Gulfport in terms of revitalizing the surrounding area.
The aquarium is being built on property immediately adjacent to the grossly underutilized Coast Transit Authority parking garage, which will provide parking for the aquarium. But so much more is going on than just putting a parking garage to use.
The historic Markham Building, which has sat vacant for years, is being converted into a 124-room Hyatt hotel property. Just down U.S. 90 is Centennial Plaza, where a former VA facility has reopened after a $145 million renovation, with a 150-room Holiday Inn Resort and a water park among the amenities.
In addition, the CTA has taken over the former Harrison County library, vacant since Katrina, and renovated it as a transportation hub. The Mississippi Aquarium will lease the second floor of the building as its offices (they are currently located on Courthouse Road just off the beach).
“So we’re already seeing the revitalizing ripple effect,” Allen said, “with the library, the Markham, Patio 44 coming in as a new restaurant, Centennial Plaza -- all of those turned the trigger once we started construction.”
Kimmel emphasized that a lot of study went into the decision to build the aquarium, including a market research study and an economic impact study by the University of Southern Mississippi.
An average of nearly half a million visitors is expected to come through the doors of the aquarium each year, with 70 percent of those expected to come from outside a two-hour drive to Gulfport, Kimmel said.
Annual revenues are projected at $340 million, with tax revenues of $12.3 million to the state and $2.38 million in local taxes.
The aquarium will employ some 70 full-time employees and 40-50 part-time workers, as well as a large number of volunteers and interns. The aquarium has already partnered with Mississippi State University’s School of Veterinary Medicine to provide internship opportunities to students.
Once open, the state-of-the-art aquarium will feature more than 1 million gallons of water, which Kimmel said is the means by which aquariums are measured. By comparison, the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans has 1.2 million gallons.
But there are plans for expansion, even as initial construction continues.
“We’d be remorse if we didn’t have plans for expansion,” Kimmel said. “I can tell you we’ve already brought in some of the infrastructure to facilitate that future expansion. We have plans for future exhibits, plans for future expansion, but today our focus is on opening the facility.”
One of the features of the aquarium will be a “traveling exhibit” building, where the aquarium staff will rotate exhibits in and out. The aquarium has already announced that the first exhibit there will be penguins, but Kimmel said his staff is already working on future exhibits for years to come.
But what Allen described as the aquarium’s “hook” is the tunnel -- an all-acrylic tunnel which runs the length of the facility’s main tank. Yes, many aquariums have similar tunnels, including the massive Georgia Aquarium, but the Mississippi Aquarium’s tunnel will be unique.
“You’ve seen tunnels in lots of aquariums,” Allen said, “but they always sit at the bottom of the tank. Ours is through the middle. Normally, everything is above you. Here, you’ve got 12 feet of water beneath you and clear acrylic all around.”
“Picture sharks 360 degrees all around you,” Kimmel said, adding that they are partnering with MSU to bring in sharks indigenous to local waters to the aquarium.
Already, aquarium animals are here. When asked when the acquisition of animals begins, Allen said “12 months ago," explaining that aquariums will create an offsite warehouse to house animals.
“There are procedures for bringing animals in,” he said. "They have to go through quarantine, medical exams and everything else. We have an offsite warehouse that is currently housing animals, so at some point during construction, before we open, they will start turning exhibits over to us in phases.
“That’s when we can start putting water in the exhibits, treating the water -- we have to create our own salt water.”
The aquarium sits on 5.8 acres and contains over 80,000 square feet of exhibits connected by landscaped walkways with plantings representing all seven physiographic regions of Mississippi.
Both Kimmel and Allen are quick to point out that the aquarium’s mission and function will be much more than just those normally associated with a tourist attraction.
“We can also use the facility for events,” Allen said. “We look at the facility as an aquarium by day, and event space by night. It’s really lends itself to a variety of events -- reunions, weddings, receptions, board meetings, dinners, everything.”
“If you look at the renderings,” Kimmel said, “you can see that we’re a combination of indoor and outdoor facilities," he said. “The outdoor areas -- the lushness that’s going to be there, the vegetation -- really makes it almost a botanical garden type of space.”
In addition, the aquarium will also be a full-fledged research and conservation facility. Allen explained that’s key to the aquarium’s mission.
“If you look at our logo, you see the three sails,” he said. “Those three sails represent the pillars we’re building this on: Education, Conservation and Community. Everything we do falls back on ‘How will we impact education, conservation and community?’”
Kimmel noted the number of quality employees the aquarium has been able to attract from other facilities, including the Bronx Zoo, the Monterey Aquarium and the Georgia Aquarium, among others.
“That’s not only because of the facility we’re building here, but the hospitality of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. It goes back to one of those three pillars -- community. Frankly, Kurt and I are amazing sometimes when we are out in the community and people see the logo on our shirts and they come over and tell us how excited they are for us to open. Sometimes it’s overwhelming.”
As mentioned, the official opening date of the Mississippi Aquarium will be announced at the annual Splash Bash fundraiser, set for Sept. 27 at Barksdale Pavilion in Jones Park.
More than 2,000 people attended last year’s inaugural Splash Bash with an equal or greater crowd expected this year. In addition to announcing the opening date, aquarium memberships will go on sale for the first time.
With the opening drawing close enough to announce an official date (and it’s worth noting Kimmel said the project is both on time and on budget), both men are asked how they expect to feel when the aquarium is complete, when they are able to walk through it for the first time, with the tanks full and teeming with sea life.
“I would say I’m going to feel proud of what the team has accomplished,” Allen said. “I know what the team is going through right now and I know what the vision is.”
“When you watch a kid go up to a window and plant his or her face against it -- or you watch your own grandchild do it -- it’s the most rewarding experience you can have,” said Kimmel, who helped open the Georgia Aquarium. "You start to really understand the responsibility you have -- not only to the guests and to the public, but the responsibility of caring for this facility for them.
“It is extremely humbling. The greatest joy is sitting back and watching the people enjoy their aquarium. There’s nothing more rewarding than that.”