Kansas City to get Aquarium in Crown Center Complex (Union: houses, theater)

[kcmo]

Halls Crown Center will get $15M aquarium by Merlin Entertainments Group | Kansas City Business Journal

This is a perfect location for an Aquarium in family friendly Crown Center in the heart of Kansas City between downtown and the plaza and within walking distance or via transit of many of metro KC's cultural and tourist attractions.

Thank you Hall family and Hallmark for stepping up and making this happen. KC's aquarium should be in a location like this rather than yet another disconnected location away from KC's cultural and tourism center. (IE Mission Mall).

A critical mass of destination attractions is finally starting to build up in the Downtown to Plaza corridor which will make KC a stronger city and more appealing to tourists (and locals) vs spreading everything out across the city and Crown Center has really found a niche with being a family friendly destination.

[kcmo]

Look, no STAR bonds!

Kansas City will get an aquarium in 2012.
The much discussed, but never acted upon aquarium will be located in much of the building that now houses the Halls department store.
Crown Center and a British based company, Merlin Entertainments will operate a $15 million dollar aquarium under the SEA LIFE aquarium brand. A news release says,”The deal is signed and unconditional, and will not receive any tax incentives.”
“We are exited to bring this great attraction to our city”, said Bill Lucas of Crown Center.
Crown Center says moving the Hall department store will be relatively easy because most a department store’s space is a big box.
SEA LIFE plans to develop an aquarium exhibit featuring aquatic life from the Missouri River, floating to the Mississippi River, to the Gulf and then the Atlantic.
SEA LIFE claims to be the world’s biggest aquarium brand with 30 facilities attracting 8 .million visitor a year. The Kansas City aquarium will present a 2-3 hour aquatic tour.
There has been talk of developing an aquarium for Kansas City for decades. Past potential locations included the river front, Union Station and lately, the demolished site of the old Mission Mall. SEA LIFE says Kansas City had several elements in its favor.
One was the lack of any regional competition for an aquarium for at least 200 miles.
The company also like the financial power of Crown Center. A third factor they says the attractive demographics for a family- themed attraction.

http://www.daytrippen.com/sea-life-a...-legoland.html

[brewcrew1000]

All the sea life locations in the US are in suburban type settings though. This is a private aquarium company, so they really could build wherever they wanted.
www.sealifeus.com The Official Web Site of SEA LIFE Aquarium US

What is happening to the Halls store, is it closing or moving?

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by brewcrew1000

All the sea life locations in the US are in suburban type settings though. This is a private aquarium company, so they really could build wherever they wanted.
www.sealifeus.com The Official Web Site of SEA LIFE Aquarium US

What is happening to the Halls store, is it closing or moving?

The point is they are not and IMO this is a much better location than a suburban mall or something.

[aragx6]

Awesome news! Aquariums are great draws for local and visiting families alike (although fish creep me out, so I'm not a big fan! haha)

And I was just about to come in and post the story and marvel that a project is coming to fruition without public money! It can be done! (as long as Hallmark is involved ...)

[skrizzle]

This is great.... I was excited to read this. A great location too that just adds to the core of KC.

[brewcrew1000]

So does this mean the Mission Mall Aquarium is off the table? So basically did a bunch of developers get a bunch of free money in star bonds?

[skrizzle]

Originally Posted by brewcrew1000

So does this mean the Mission Mall Aquarium is off the table? So basically did a bunch of developers get a bunch of free money in star bonds?

Nope they still plan to do it, in fact I think it will be bigger then the at crown center (45k sq feet of space vs 90k).

Though i'm curious how it will do compared to the crown center one. Considering within an area you have the plaza, P&L, great theaters and restaurants, performing arts center, river market, crossroads, westport, plaza, nelson, ww1 museum, crown center, union station, etc.... this just going to add to the area. For someone visiting they may just focus on the crown center aquarium and not bother going out of the way for the other one.

For residents, I can only speak for myself but I would definitely check out both... I think most would. In fact people in KS may not bother with the crown center one? Not really sure. I just don't know if visitors to the city would bother with the KS one.

[MabelMeister]

Awesome news! Very excited for this.

[xenokc]

Merlin, who is building the aquarium will also put in a $15M Legoland adjacent to the aquarium. There are only 3 others.. Chicago, Dallas and Atlanta is getting one.

Crown Center to add $15 million Legoland Discovery Center | Dollars & Sense