A $14 million donation by a local family is pushing a proposed $70 million aquarium project closer to reality.

The aquarium would be developed by the Brevard Zoo and could open as early as fall 2022 on a 14-acre site at Port Canaveral, according to zoo Executive Director Keith Winsten.

The zoo has not announced the identity of the family making the donation, but plans to do so in the future.

The zoo previously received a financial commitment totaling $10 million, spread over eight years, from Brevard County for the aquarium project, through revenue generated by the county's 5% Tourist Development Tax on hotel rooms and other short-term rentals.

Brevard County Tourist Development Council Chairman Tim Deratany said he believes Port Canaveral should step up as well financially, with at least a $10 million commitment to match what the county has pledged.

Deratany made his views known during a recent Tourist Development Council meeting, after Winsten made a presentation on the Indian River Lagoon-themed aquarium project and on the zoo's expansion plans.

Deratany said the port and its businesses will benefit financially from having an aquarium on port property.

"They need to remember that they're part of Brevard County, and they need to participate in the well-being of Brevard County," Deratany said.

But Canaveral Port Authority Chairman Micah Loyd said he believes the port already is making an appropriate financial commitment to the project, which would be located on undeveloped land south of State Road 528 on the south side of the port.

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The port has signed a letter of intent for the development agreement with the zoo, under which the port would provide up to $3.5 million in infrastructure improvements benefiting the Banana River-area parcel on which the aquarium would be located. This would include improvements to George King Boulevard, an extension of water and sewer lines, and stormwater connections.

"That was considered the skin in the game if you will," Loyd said.

Additionally, Loyd noted, the rent the zoo would pay the port to lease the property would be on a sliding scale, based on annual paid attendance figures for the aquarium.

"They're taking up a pretty good piece of property at Port Canaveral," Loyd said.

Loyd emphasized that, while port officials "want the aquarium to be successful," the port must be careful not to "derail the port's main objectives" of supporting its cruise and other maritime businesses to help pay for the aquarium project.

Loyd added, though, that "my door is always open to talk with anyone" with ideas on how the port could support the aquarium.

Winsten declined to comment on the issue of whether the port should be contributing cash to the aquarium project, but said the zoo is preparing to kick off its private fundraising efforts for the aquarium project.

Winsten said plans call for having three categories of funding for the aquarium:

• $20 million in private individual and corporate contributions, including the $14 million gift. Winsten said this donation was not solicited by the zoo. He said the family decided to make the donation after reading news stories about the project.

Winsten said the donation "certainly will be recognized in a very significant way" when the family's identity is announced.

• $20 million in public funding, including the $10 million from Tourist Development Tax revenue.

• $30 million through financing, based on future anticipated revenue from aquarium admission fees.

Winsten said he expects the aquarium to attract 525,000 to 690,000 visitors a year, about 60% of them tourists. (In comparison, the Brevard Zoo's 2018 attendance was 489,710, including its Treetop Trek attraction.)

Winsten said the aquarium would support the third leg of Space Coast tourism — nature tourism — as it adds to the existing major attractions of the beaches and the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

Plans call for the aquarium to have 60,000 square feet of indoor exhibit space and 70,000 square feet of outdoor exhibit space, including a 40,000-square-foot water play area. There will be boardwalk and kayak access to the Banana River, and a rooftop function space that would offer views of rocket launches and cruise ships.

Additionally, Winsten said the aquarium complex also would have a 15,000-square-foot "conservation hub," where researchers from Florida Tech, University of Central Florida and other universities would share collaborative workspaces and join forces with students and local residents to tackle Indian River Lagoon-related problems.

Winsten said the aquarium would have an estimated economic impact of $85.5 million a year. It would be responsible for 937 direct and spinoff jobs, when the aquarium operations are combined with the impact of the extended stays of visitors to the Space Coast. The aquarium itself would have the equivalent of 65 to 70 full-time employees.

The aquarium would have an admission price — based on the value of 2018 dollars — of $24.95 for adults, $19.95 for children 3 to 11, and free for children under 3.

Winsten said at least $1 from every paid admission will go toward Indian River Lagoon-related conservation programs.

Dave Berman is government editor at FLORIDA TODAY.

Contact Berman at 321-242-3649

or dberman@floridatoday.com.

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