Gulfport aquarium design team moving forward with plans

GULFPORT -- The team hired to design a waterfront aquarium visited the city this week to discuss plans.

PGAV Destinations of St. Louis, Mo. -- which designs aquariums, theme parks and other attractions -- is expected to have a master plan in place by the end of January for the Mississippi Aquarium on 12 acres the city bought just east of downtown and north of the Gulfport harbor.

The city's urban-renewal agency, the Gulfport Redevelopment Commission, owns the acreage and is overseeing the project. The city plans an initial investment of $40 million, more than half of which is already committed from the state. The city hopes the rest will come from BP oil catastrophe funding Mississippi is receiving.

If the aquarium is designed as planned, costs could exceed $100 million.

Carole Lynn Meadows, GRC chairwoman, said the attraction might have to be built in phases as money becomes available.

The idea is to design the aquarium around the theme of the Mississippi River meeting the Gulf of Mexico -- from brown to blue water.

"This interaction creates a rich and verdant ecosystem which incorporates 3,540 miles of coastline, 33 major river systems, 207 estuaries, 29 marine mammal species, 49 shark species, and countless unique species of fish, birds, and reptiles," says a PGAV news release issued Tuesday. "The team aims to create a wholly unique experience that explores these fascinating environments and how they impact the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi region."

Four members of the PGAV team were introduced Tuesday to the City Council: Chairman Mike Konzen, project manager Emily Howard, senior project architect Michael D. Linenbroker and vice president Thomas Owen. Linenbroker was described as the creative brains behind the project, and Owen is responsible for putting together the Coast story the aquarium and its exhibits will tell. They were introduced by David Hardy of Eley Guild Hardy, the Coast architectural firm working on the project.

"We are starting to put together the tapestry of the story of Gulfport and what it means to the aquarium," Konzen told the council. "Our objective is that this aquarium will be unique to Gulfport and the region."

While on the Coast, the design team visited with representatives of the University of Southern Mississippi's marine sciences operations. Plans are to incorporate USM research into the aquarium. For example, Meadows said, real-time video from the USM vessel Point Sur could be viewed at the aquarium.

Meadows said focus groups of teachers, school children, business people and other residents also will be convened for input on the aquarium master plan.

After the master plan is in place, final design work begins. The GRC hopes to start construction in 2017 and open the aquarium in the summer of 2018.

This story was originally published November 17, 2015 at 7:05 PM with the headline "Gulfport aquarium design team moving forward with plans ."