Mote Marine reaches key milestone for aquarium project with placement of windows
A tall yellow construction crane slowly lowered a 27,900-pound acrylic window into a concrete tank.
The window will allow visitors to peer into the tank and view coral reef formations, sharks, sea turtles and other marine animals.
The crane moved the window to the edge of the tank, its new home. At the nearby PopStroke golf attraction at the University Town Center, Mote Marine staff and donors watched live drone footage of the window placement on TV screens. Some took photos or videos of the work or pointed at the screens.
The crowd assembled Tuesday morning to watch the window placement in the new Mote Science Education Aquarium’s Gulf of Mexico habitat. The installation of the window – and another one that was expected to be installed later in the day or on Wednesday – was an important step in the $130 million construction of the new Mote aquarium by Interstate 75.
The project, which began in November 2020, is expected to be completed in 2024.
What is the project?
Mote is moving its aquarium to Nathan Benderson Park. It’s also planning to renovate its campus on City Island, which will continue to house Mote’s research labs.
The new aquarium will have a variety of marine and freshwater creatures in its galleries, which include the Gulf of Mexico Gallery, Pacific Waters Gallery and Florida Waters Gallery. The facility will also have three STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) teaching labs and four STEM workforce training labs, which will be used by K-12 students, according to a Mote brochure.
What was happening to the windows?
The acrylic windows will provide views into the Gulf of Mexico habitat tank. The first window will open up into a multipurpose room, which will host educational and community programs. The second window will be for visitors in the Gulf of Mexico Gallery. It is a “candy cane window,” or one that curves above visitors’ heads. This will allow people to look straight at the exhibit, said Evan Barniskis, Mote Aquarium associate vice president.
The two windows had to be installed before the building's exterior. The aquarium's other windows can be installed later in the construction process.
Other news: '100% coral mortality' found at Florida Keys reef due to rising temperatures, restoration group says
What has been accomplished so far in the Mote project?
Dan Bebak, Mote Aquarium vice president, said the aquarium sits on land that used to be a lake. Mote dammed the lake, drained the water and filled part of the lake with dirt. It also had to expand nearby wetlands to compensate for the shrinking of the lake.
The next step was installing 386 pilings, which run 90 feet underground and will support the building. They then installed the building’s columns.
Bebak expects the team to start building the aquarium’s unique exterior early next year.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: See the progress of Sarasota's Mote Science Education Aquarium project
