No telling how the downtown Clearwater aquarium scenario will ultimately play out. November’s referendum vote, if favorable, will only fuel the speculation. But there is a critical variable in any funding proposal: Pinellas County’s 5 percent bed tax.
A lot of it is generated by Clearwater–more, to be sure, than by St. Petersburg. And this tax backs the construction bonds for Tropicana Field, which will be paid off in two years.
And then? Any aquarium plan would obviously factor in this key funding source. Frankly, a 200,000-square-foot, Dolphin Tale-inspired aquarium on prime, underutilized property in downtown Clearwater makes more bed-tax sense than allocating a sizable chunk of it for a possible Trop alternative in Pinellas County. The Rays, suffice it to say, are not a tourist draw.
Clearwater, which longs to escape the suffocating downtown image of Scientology, is a visitor magnet with world-class beaches. A major aquarium is complementary–even if understandably unwelcomed by its Tampa counterpart. The current, undersized Clearwater Marine Aquarium drew approximately 750,000 visitors last year. A new one could double that–and the ripple effect of a visitor infusion would be felt beyond Clearwater.
But funding will remain the key challenge. Not only is a Pinellas-site baseball stadium logistically and geographically ill-advised for the best interest of the Rays and Tampa Bay, it’s ill-suited as a sensible investment of Pinellas bed-tax revenue beyond 2015.