Plumbing

New Mote aquarium building goes vertical for fall 2024 opening

Dan Bebak, vice president of the Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium, got out of his construction truck and headed to the construction site for the new Mote Science Education Aquarium, which is adjacent to Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota.

As he approached the construction site, he kept looking up.

yes, up

Up is a celebratory word for mote because it means its $130 million project (now a $132 million project), announced in February 2018 and breaking ground in November 2020, has begun, to make a visual impression on everyone who passes by.

That’s a massive impact considering that more than 50 million vehicles pass through the 11.76-acre property along Interstate 75 in a year.

In addition to the busy workers on the ground floor, there are two huge cranes that move building materials that are supposed to blow up. Columns and elevator shafts have already stretched into the sky, and in May the giant acrylic windows in the Gulf of Mexico, which help form a tank that occupies both the first and second floors of the three-story, 110,000-square-foot building, will be placed.

Because this display tank in the Gulf of Mexico is so massive, builders Willis Smith Construction and Whiting-Turner must place it before they can begin building the walls around it. Then the vertical construction takes off.

Interest increases

“Once you go vertical, the (funding) increases,” said Michael Moore, special adviser to the Office of the President at Mote. “By then you have to be a visionary. Now the public is feeling the mood.”

Moore said Mote has a $100 million pledge for the aquarium, with “a few” other big potential donors seriously considering getting on board.

But he said the vertical phase of a project is often what stimulates corporate sponsorship the most.

“Corporate sponsorship is the last thing,” he said. “They want to get closer to get real. Now it’s really happening.”

Bebak began working at Mote as an intern in 1981 and was hired on permanently in 1985. Eventually, he worked his way up the ladder to oversee an annual budget of $7 million and 70 employees.

“It’s great to run out there,” he said of the site. “And it’ll be nice to say, ‘There’s the tank from the Gulf of Mexico.'”

The two acrylic “windows” that make up the exhibition tank in the Gulf of Mexico together weigh 14 tons. This will be a sight in itself (although the acrylic will be covered in plywood) as passers-by can see the tank being built throughout May and June. The windows are shipped from Reynolds Polymer Technology of Grand Junction, Colorado.

Then it’s off to the races.

The new Mote Science Education Aquarium will include a display tank in the Gulf of Mexico.

With kind approval

As the project progresses, most of the work on the second and third floors will be completed before the ground floor is completed. Bebak said heavy materials like the tanks would have to be moved to the first floor, which would ruin the floor.

While people think vertical structures start from the ground up, Bebak noted that the 368 piles erected to support the structure are actually vertical, with the piles reaching 80 to 90 feet into the ground.

To date, Mote has spent approximately $30 million on on-site and underground construction.

Exactly according to plan

“We are on schedule and plan to open in autumn 2024,” said Bebak. “Now that we’re going vertical, we know what we’re up against. We will fill the water in the tanks and bring in the fish.

The pools will be fully stocked with wildlife months before the doors open to the public in the fall of 2024. Wild animals need time to acclimate. Natural seawater is predominantly used to fill the tanks.

“We’ll have a better idea of ​​opening dates in a few months,” Bebak said. “And you never know what the weather will be like.”

Half of the third level of the aquarium will be in the open air. This gives guests an indoor-outdoor experience.

Moore said successful planning has allowed the project to stay mostly within budget during a period of extreme inflation. The original price of $130 million had introduced some inflation, but Moore said Mote had been buying materials and setting prices for more than three years.

“We don’t see that escalation (in the budget),” Moore said.

Bebak noted that the construction project is highly specialized as almost every part of the aquarium has life support systems and specialized pumps, filters, piping, air conditioning and heating systems.

All support systems such as B. columns must be extremely strong. For example, the Florida Waters Gallery’s tank on the third floor will hold 300,000 gallons of water.

“They need a lot more rebar,” Bebak said.

All of that has been taken into account.

“The project is moving,” said Bebak. “Nothing will stop us except a little weather here and there.”

Mote estimates that the aquarium will attract 600,000 to 700,000 visitors in its first year.

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