[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 166 (Tuesday, December 4, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12365-S12366]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      THANKING MR. BERNARD MARCUS

 Mr. CLELAND. Mr. President, I would like to offer my thanks 
and appreciation to Mr. Bernard Marcus for his generous donation of 
$200 million for the construction of a five-million-gallon aquarium in 
the city of Atlanta, GA. This gift, made by the Marcus Foundation, is 
one of the largest single grants ever made by a private foundation and 
will provide the people of Georgia and those who visit our great State 
the opportunity to experience the wonders of aquatic and riparian 
wildlife. In addition to this most recent gesture of generosity, Mr. 
Marcus has contributed to causes ranging from the Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention, vascular diseases, developmentally disabled 
children, and Jewish charities. Those who have benefitted from his 
benevolence know him to be a man dedicated to his community and 
friends. I thank him for his friendship and generosity and look forward 
to this exciting new addition to the City of Atlanta and the State of 
Georgia. At this time, I would like to ask that the text of two Atlanta 
Journal-Constitution articles be printed in the Record.
  The articles follow:

         [From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Nov. 20, 2001]

   Aquarium ``Will Be a Great Marvel'' Home Depot Chief Pledges $200 
                                Million

                          (By Shelia M. Poole)

       Home Depot Chairman Bernard Marcus promised that the huge 
     Georgia Aquarium announced Monday would have ``no 
     boundaries'' in offering top-notch entertainment and research 
     opportunities for residents and visitors.
       ``It will be a great marvel,'' said Marcus, whose private 
     Marcus Foundation will spend up to $200 million to build and 
     endow the aquarium, which will be owned by the state.
       The nonprofit aquarium--at 5 million gallons and 250,000 
     square feet--would be among the largest and most elaborate in 
     the nation. It will contain freshwater and saltwater fish and 
     mammals.
       Marcus, the 72-year-old cofounder of Home Depot, said the 
     aquarium is a way for him and his wife, Billi, to give back 
     to the community in a way that is ``meaningful and will last 
     past our lifetimes.''
       The aquarium, to open in 2005, will be built on 15.5 acres 
     adjacent to Atlantic Station, a planned $2 billion minicity 
     under construction west of the Downtown Connector. When 
     completed, the development will include apartments, 
     condominiums, offices, shops and a 20-screen movie theater.
       The site for the aquarium is just north of Atlantic 
     Station, east of Mecaslin Street and south of Deering Road, 
     near the former National Lead Industries site.
       The developer of Atlantic Station, Jim Jacoby, who owns 
     Marineland in Florida, is assisting in acquiring the 
     property.
       On Monday, representatives of state and local government, 
     business, academia and the tourism and convention industry 
     attended the announcement in the Georgia Capitol's Senate 
     chamber.
       Atlanta Mayor-elect Shirley Franklin called it ``a 
     wonderful gift for the city.''
       She said the aquarium would not only provide entertainment 
     and education opportunities for residents, but also create a 
     draw for tourists and conventioneers. City boosters have long 
     decried the lack of attractions in downtown Atlanta.
       Marcus' announcement effectively supersedes other efforts 
     to build aquariums in Atlanta. At least two proposals had 
     been floated to build aquariums at Stone Mountain Park and 
     near Turner Field.
       ``We're not in business to compete,'' but to work toward 
     getting quality recreation facilities in the area, said 
     Thomas Dortch, chairman of the Atlanta-Fulton County 
     Recreation Authority, which had tried for years to find 
     financing and a downtown site for an aquarium. ``With the 
     commitment from Mr. Marcus and the governor, we're excited 
     about the fact there will be a world-class aquarium.''
       The aquarium is still very much a work in progress, say 
     those associated with it. There are no renderings, site plans 
     or economic impact figures, although attendance is projected 
     to be between 1.5 million and 2.5 million annually.
       Don Harrison, a Home Depot spokesman, said Marcus planned 
     to visit aquariums across the United States and elsewhere, 
     including China. The design will be finalized over the next 
     18 months.
       ``Now is when all the work begins,'' said Harrison. The 
     aquarium will be global in scope, drawing researchers and 
     visitors from around the world, he said. ``The world is, 
     frankly, our target.''
       Former Atlantan Jeffrey Swanagan, executive director and 
     chief executive officer of the Florida Aquarium in Tampa, has 
     been tapped to run the project. Swanagan spent 10 years as 
     deputy director of Zoo Atlanta and was a protege of director 
     Terry Maple.
       Marcus first approached Gov. Roy Barnes about the project a 
     year ago. The governor suggested Atlantic Station as a 
     possible site. ``Location was key,'' Marcus said. ``In our 
     minds it will become a destination to visitors.''
       Already the city has museums, art galleries and theater. 
     What it doesn't have, Marcus said, is an aquarium.
       Dan Graveline--executive director of the Georgia World 
     Congress Center--said, ``It will be a wonderful asset for the 
     city. One of [the city's] biggest shortcomings is that 
     convention[-goers] lack things to do in downtown Atlanta.''
       The aquarium represents the largest donation to date from 
     the Marcus Foundation and is a departure from previous 
     endeavors, noted Harrison, the spokesman for Home Depot.
       With the private funding, the Georgia aquarium will open 
     with no debt. Other aquariums, typically funded by municipal 
     bonds and saddled with enormous debt, have struggled to 
     prosper. Many have had difficulty funding new exhibits 
     critical to attracting repeat customers.
       A notable exception is the Monterey Bay Aquarium in 
     California. The aquarium, which opened in October 1984, was 
     privately financed with a $55 million gift from David and 
     Lucile Packard of the Hewlett-Packard fortune.
       There were ``no bonds and no debt,'' said Ken Peterson, a 
     spokesman for the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which attracts 1.8 
     million visitors annually and was expanded in 1996. ``When 
     you're paying a mortgage plus your operating expenses, it 
     doesn't leave a lot of extra revenue for developing special 
     exhibitions or new exhibit galleries.''
       Bob Masterson, president of Orlando-based Ripley 
     Entertainment Inc., which operates aquariums in Myrtle Beach, 
     S.C., and Gatlinburg, Tenn., said the size of the Atlanta 
     Facility will make it expensive to operate.
       ``We spend about $30,000 a day to run the 1.3 million-
     gallon aquarium in Myrtle Beach and a little more than that 
     in Gatlinburg,'' he said. ``With a 5 million-gallon tank, I'd 
     guess it would cost at least $50,000 a day to operate. And if 
     it fails, there is nothing else you can do with that 
     building.''
                                  ____


         [From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Nov. 20, 2001]

 An Aquarium for Atlanta: Giant facility Will Increase Knowledge About 
                                 Oceans

                         (By Charles Seabrook)

       Call it the Atlanta Ocean.
       A world-class aquarium in Atlanta will mean not only a 
     place where people can marvel over ocean wonders, but also a 
     place

[[Page S12366]]

     where scientists and students can unravel mysteries of the 
     sea.
       Understanding the oceans' workings is vital, scientists 
     say, because the declining health of the world's seas has 
     become a pressing public problem.
       Dozens of ocean fish species are in peril because of 
     overfishing, and marine biologists estimate that more than 25 
     percent of the coral reefs in the world's tropical oceans are 
     sick or dying.
       ``If this aquarium is built the way it's envisioned, it 
     will be wonderful not only for economic development but also 
     for basic science,'' said Mark Hay, professor of 
     environmental biology at Georgia Tech. ``It will be of 
     immense importance for researchers.''
       The Georgia Aquarium that Bernard Marcus, chairman of Home 
     Depot, says he wants to build--spending up to $200 million--
     will hold more than 5 million gallons of water and encompass 
     250,000 square feet.
       ``People who may never travel to the coast will be able to 
     come to Atlanta to learn the lessons of the sea,'' Hay said.
       For scientists, the size and scope of the aquarium, 
     scheduled for completion in 2005, means they may be able to 
     conduct studies that cannot be done very well in 
     laboratories.
       ``We can buy little tanks and put little creatures in them 
     and observe them in our labs,'' Hay said.
       But a large aquarium, he says, could accommodate complete 
     ecosystems--such as a living coral reef--replete with large 
     numbers of different creatures and plants and minerals.
       Scientists say the ocean will never be fully understood 
     until they understand how its ecosystems function.
       The Georgia Aquarium will follow the lead of other major 
     aquariums around the world. Scientific research is a basic 
     mission at most of those institutions.
       ``We realize that health oceans are essential to our 
     survival on Earth,'' says Ken Peterson of the Monterey Bay 
     Aquarium in California.
       ``As an aquarium, we see our role as raising public 
     awareness of the oceans and conducting research to help 
     resolve the problems the oceans face.''
       He notes that half the Earth's oxygen comes from the sea, 
     and the only protein for more than a billion people is 
     provided by the ocean.
       ``We believe it is important that people know that and know 
     how important the oceans are for their survival,'' he says.
       Jeffrey Swanagan, who has been tapped as the executive 
     director of the aquarium, says a theme has not been chosen. 
     ``But it will have a world focus, so that we can tell any 
     freshwater or saltwater story,'' he says.
       Swanagan, a Georgia Tech graduate who spent 10 years at Zoo 
     Atlanta, said the ``value of research and conservation is 
     very strong in me.''
       Swanagan said he hopes the Georgia Aquarium will make 
     people in Atlanta as familiar with the sea as they are with 
     the Chattahoochee River.
       ``In Tampa, where I live now, kids take the sea for granted 
     because it's all around them,'' he said. ``They think nothing 
     of driving over a causeway and seeing dolphins jumping out 
     the water. We want the people in Atlanta to have similar 
     experiences, albeit it will be an indoor one.''
       Swanagan, executive director of the Florida Aquarium, said 
     he and his staff will be looking closely at aquariums all 
     over the world to study their exhibits, planning and their 
     public appeal.
       Universities and other academic institutions in Georgia 
     also are being asked for help in establishing a marine 
     research program.
       ``We want an aquarium like no other,'' he says.
       That means, he adds, that the aquarium might attempt to 
     house sea creatures that have been heretofore difficult for 
     other aquariums to maintain.
       Some of those creatures, say marine biologists, include 
     fish, squids and other animals that live deep in the ocean 
     under tremendous pressures--and which have never been seen 
     alive on land.
       For Hay and other scientists, the aquarium will be the 
     chance of a lifetime.
       Hay helped build the renowned living coral reef aquarium at 
     the Smithsonian Institution 20 years ago.
       Many scientists said that facility could not be done 
     because of all the requirements needed to keep the reef 
     animals alive and healthy.
       ``We did have to learn as we went along,'' he said.
       For instance, one scientist argued that a machine was 
     needed to create wave patterns in the aquarium, but others 
     argued that it was unnecessary.
       The researchers found, however, that wave action is vital 
     to maintaining a health coral reef system.
       ``So, designing and building a new aquarium will further 
     our knowledge even more,'' he says.

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