[Pages S12365-S12366]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

THANKING MR. BERNARD MARCUS

<bullet> 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.<bullet>

____________________