via Flickr/Keith Allison
As St. Louis figures out how to finance a new NFL stadium, one local artist is floating the idea of building a world-class aquarium on the riverfront instead.
Rather than invest millions of dollars into the polarizing plan to build an NFL stadium by the riverfront, what if St. Louis built a world-class aquarium there instead?
That’s the question floated by artist and Strange Folk Festival founder Autumn Wiggins over the weekend. There’s nothing “official” about Wiggins’ idea: no aldermanic bill, no university research partner, no funding plan. Wiggins herself calls it “just a little imagination with some facts behind it.”
But as city officials debate financing for a new stadium, with the Rams’ future in St. Louis uncertain, Wiggin’s idea quickly drew enthusiastic support.
“Can our north riverfront be a center for field research instead of field goals? YAAASSSS,” Wiggins said in a web post titled, “The Case for Building a World-Class Aquarium in St. Louis (Instead of a Stadium).”
See also: Strange Folk Festival Finds New Home at Union Station After Spat with O’Fallon
Wiggins argues that St. Louis could get more return on investment—not just in terms of tourism and tax revenue, but also in cultural and educational value—from an aquarium that costs a fraction of the proposed stadium, which one NFL executive has already said isn’t “top-tier” enough to compel Rams owner Stan Kroenke to sign the lease.
“I want magnificence, not mediocrity, for our city,” Wiggins said on Facebook.
Wiggins points to two cities with aquariums—Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Atlanta, Georgia—as models for St. Louis to follow:
Chattanooga built the Tennessee Aquarium for $75 million in 1982. It averages 700,000 visitors a year and is the #1 attributed factor to $1 billion in annual tourism revenue. It's direct annual economic impact is over $100 million. Georgia Aquarium, the largest aquarium in the western hemisphere, was named the #1 facility in the US by Trip Advisor and boasts 2 million visitors a year. It's price tag was $300 million, including construction, marine life and start-up costs. Georgia Aquarium created $4 billion in investments in an underdeveloped part of Atlanta.
St. Louis' sole aquarium, World Aquarium in City Museum, closed in September after a U.S. Department of Agriculture inspection found problems with dirty water, unfed animals, and poor sanitation. (Edit: As our followers on Facebook point out, the aquarium is reopening near the riverfront as The Aqua Room on Laclede’s Landing.)
In January, SLM suggested a new aquarium as one option for a better investment for the riverfront—"because sharks and stingrays never throw interceptions." Other ideas of ways to spend public dollars outside of the sports arena included expanded public transit and permanent housing for the homeless.
Wiggins’ proposal doesn’t offer specifics, such as a funding source or a research partner. But her idea caught on among St. Louisans who want to see their city invest in something besides football. Wiggins’ Facebook post about the proposal has been shared more than 1,500 times.
Two St. Louis aldermen, Cara Spencer and Megan Ellyia Green, commented on Wiggins’ personal Facebook page to thank Wiggins for suggesting the idea.
“[An aquarium] is the missing piece to our museum district, and there’s no better place than on the Mighty Mississippi River,” Green said.
Supporters are using Wiggins’ hashtag #fishesnotfootball to spread the word:
Contact Lindsay Toler by an email at LToler@stlmag.com or on Twitter @StLouisLindsay. For more from St. Louis Magazine, subscribe or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
