A beluga whale greets readers at Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. Oklahoma Town Zoo officers have selected the company that designed the Atlanta venture to be the specialist on a new aquarium in Oklahoma Town. (Photograph by Georgia Aquarium)
OKLAHOMA Town – The Oklahoma Metropolis Zoo Trust has picked a specialist to structure an 80,000-square-foot aquarium that would be constructed somewhere other than the zoo at 2101 NE 50th St.
Trust customers assembly very last week approved zoo Executive Director Dwight Lawson to negotiate a agreement with St. Louis-centered PGAV Locations to serve as advisor on the project.
The agency has produced 1000’s of zoos, museums, aquariums, concept parks and resorts in additional than 30 states and 5 continents, which include Georgia Aquarium in downtown Atlanta. The $290 million challenge is the world’s third-major indoor aquarium with 100,000 fish in 8 million gallons of h2o.
The Oklahoma Metropolis challenge is predicted to be roughly 80,000 sq. toes with 600,000 to 800,000 gallons of aquatic reveals, in accordance to the community notice trying to find a specialist to get ready a preliminary report that contains conceptual drawings and estimated construction costs.
Lawson was unavailable to converse about the challenge Wednesday, but the zoo’s director of community relations, Candice Rennels, sent a statement:
“The Oklahoma Metropolis Zoo proceeds to examine the options of incorporating a 2nd locale within Oklahoma City for a world-class aquarium. The initial design and style stage with PGAV architects is agnostic of any certain spot,” Rennels wrote.
The assertion stated officials with the zoo and Very first Individuals Museum “are fired up by the risk of this aquarium remaining positioned within the OKANA undertaking but a final locale for the aquarium has not been made the decision.”
OKANA is the $400 million resort the Chickasaw Nation is creating along the Oklahoma River adjacent to the To start with Americans Museum. It is expected to open up in spring 2025.
“We have expressed interest in talking about a possible partnership with the zoo on this challenge at some level in the long run,” a spokesperson for OKANA mentioned. “But our focus at this time is the development of OKANA Vacation resort and Indoor Waterpark.”
The Oklahoma Metropolis Aquarium Variety Committee, which involves Lawson, reviewed displays from 3 guide companies advised by Eric Wenger, Oklahoma City general public will work director, from amongst those people that submitted preliminary reports for the project.
The companies – rated in get by Wenger – ended up PGAV Destinations and two local companies, Beck Layout and Frankfurt Brief Bruza.
