Volume 3, No. 8. April 25, 2003
On the water
front
The trend in commercial
entities taking over not-for-profit, government-subsidized aquariums continued
with last week’s announcement that Steiner + Associates would acquire the
New Jersey State Aquarium in Camden (see story in Extra!
Extra!).
The deal, 3 1/2 years in the making, is not finalized; all the parties involved
still must sign off on all the documents, which David Wechsler, vice president
of Steiner + Associates, expects to happen by the end of June. Last week the
plans won the approval of the Delaware River Port Authority, the proposal’s
largest hurdle.
Steiner + Associates is the managing partner of the Newport Aquarium in Newport,
Kentucky, across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. The company also owns and manages
Newport on the Levee, a retail/restaurant/entertainment complex adjoining the
aquarium. While Steiner plans to pump a total of $135 million into Camden’s
waterfront development—focusing more on entertainment and dining venues
than retail— the primary piece of the puzzle is the state’s relinquishing
its aquarium to this for-profit group, which will spend $35 million on an expansion
and renovation.
“We’re taking it private, and we will integrate a lot of things they
do into our model that we use at Newport,” said Wechsler, who also is the
executive vice president of Newport Aquarium. “We will attempt to bring
things inherently done in nonprofits that lose a lot of money and eliminate
those programs.” He’s referring to public programming which has to
be subsidized. “Any programming we do for the public we charge enough to
cover costs.”
Newport Aquarium addressed the issue of providing public programming without
eating into the business profits by forming the Wave Foundation, a non-profit
arm of the aquarium’s operation that raises funds for educational and public
service programs. Camden’s aquarium had been managed by the Academy of
Aquatic Science, which Steiner will retain in the same capacity as the Wave
Foundation, Wechsler said.
The $35 million expansion, which will increase the aquarium size by 50 percent,
and a facelift of existing exhibits are intended to give the aquarium and its
exposition more vibrancy. “Aquariums have to create a dynamic environment,
which is harder for aquariums than zoos,” Wechsler said. “Animals
engage people better than fish do. Aquariums have to do a number of different
things other than throw a fish in a tank; you have to connect people to the
fish.”
Creating such a
dynamic environment inside the aquarium coupled with the development of neighboring
entertainment venues and restaurants should spur repeat visits among locals
and pick up more tourism business out of Philadelphia across the river from
Camden, Wechsler said. “The aquarium does about 560,000 in attendance,
which is relatively low given the market size,” he said.
The expansion should be completed by the summer of 2005, whereupon Steiner will
take over full management of the facility. As with Colorado’s Ocean Journey
in Denver (THE LOOP March
14, 2003), the private firm acquiring the aquarium does so without assuming
any of the existing debt; and once Steiner takes over the operation, the state
will no longer subsidize the aquarium. That gets the state off the hook without
losing its gem. “Cities and states don’t want to lose these things;
they are precious,” Wechsler said.
But cities and states have difficulty finding the resources to keep their aquariums.
With Ripley Entertainment successfully operating profitable aquariums, Landry’s
Restaurant opening its own aquarium in Houston and buying the Denver facility
out of bankruptcy, and Steiner + Associates going on four years at Newport and
taking on Camden, public entities and nonprofit operations have a choice of
commercial saviors. “We’ve talked to a bunch of people, we’ve
been contacted by other folks,” Wechsler said. “But we’re taking
things slowly. We want to make a success story out of Camden.”
THE LOOP is written and produced by Eric Minton, Minton Enterprises, LLC. To see more examples of Eric Minton's work and Minton Enterprises services, visit www.ericminton.com.
©2003, Minton Enterprises
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