Georgia Aquarium
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The Georgia Aquarium is a new public aquarium under construction in Atlanta, Georgia and upon completion will be the largest in the U.S. Funded mostly by a 200 million U.S. dollar donation from Home Depot founder Bernie Marcus, it is being built on a 20 acre (80,000 m²) site just north of Centennial Olympic Park in downtown. (The original location was proposed to be the new Atlantic Station development.)
Scheduled to open on November 23, 2005, the Georgia Aquarium will contain between 100,000 to 120,000 fish and other sea creatures, representing more than 500 species. The specimens will be housed in tanks holding over 5 million gallons of water in total. On June 3, 2005 the Atlanta Journal-Constitution revealed that among the specimens will be two young, rare whale sharks acquired from Taiwan. On June 14, 2005 the total number of specimens was unveiled after having previously being reported as "over 55,000". Marcus was quoted as saying "I have been saying that we would have more than 55,000 fish; I just never said how many more." The total was announced after a shipment of over 100,000 fish was transported from Taiwan to the Aquarium by Atlanta-headquartered UPS in forty-two tanks aboard an MD-11. UPS donated the cost of the shipping, estimated at over $200,000.
The Aquarium is already working with Georgia Tech and Georgia State University in Atlanta and the University of Georgia in Athens to help save endangered species through education and research programs.
The Coca-Cola Company donated nine acres (36,000 m²) of land to the site and will build a new World of Coca-Cola attraction on the remaining property it owns adjacent to the aquarium with which it will share an 1800 space parking deck. Other improvements around the new site are being helped along by Central Atlanta Progress, a group of local business leaders which has had a presence in Atlanta for several years. In December 2004, a $300 million office and hotel development was announced for a nearby site. The complex will be named Allen Plaza in honor of former Atlanta mayor Ivan Allen Jr. and will include office space for the Southern Company and accounting firm Ernst & Young.
References
- Tharpe, Jim (June 3, 2005). Aquarium lands two whale sharks (http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/0605/03whaleshark.html) Atlanta Journal-Constitution
- Tharpe, Jim (June 14, 2005). Surprise at aquarium: 100,000 fish, in from Asia (http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/atlanta/0605/14morefish.html) Atlanta Journal-Constitution
External links
- Georgia Aquarium website (http://www.georgiaaquarium.org)
- Central Atlanta Progress Aquarium information page (http://www.atlantadowntown.com/NewsAquarium.asp)