Novato nonprofit to buy Pier 39 aquarium
By Mark Prado, Marin Independent Journal
Tuesday, May 9, 2006The Novato-based Bay Institute will take over the Aquarium of the Bay at Pier 39 in San Francisco and operate it as a center for bay research and education.
A press conference was scheduled today at the aquarium, where officials were to announce their plans.
"I'm a big fan of the Bay Institute and it's good to have local control over our community assets," said Mill Valley resident Cliff Waldeck, who sits on the Bay Conservation and Development Commission.
It was the development commission that issued permits to allow construction of the $40 million aquarium in 1996. It was built then to capture tourist traffic from Pier 39, but the idea never took off and the aquarium venture went bankrupt.
A French banking company then purchased it, brought it out of bankruptcy and now is ready to sell it, officials said.
The Bay Institute's vision is to create a place of education and understanding of the bay and its estuaries where people and schoolchildren could learn more about the resource.
"It will be a place where kids can learn while they are having fun," said Waldeck, whose commission recently provided a forum for discussion on the Bay Institute taking over the facility. "I'm encouraged."
The Bay Institute has a cadre of scientists who work to come up with the best available information to inform the decision-makers on bay issues. It has a staff of 15 and a $1.5 annual million budget that largely comes from donors and grants.
The institute has been successful working with policy makers to rejuvenate and restore critical waterways and habitat.
Among Bay Institute successes: restoring wetlands along Hamilton Field, a project to restore the San Pablo Bay watershed, helping move a planned casino away from San Pablo Bay and getting that land donated as open space.
It has also shepherded the Students and Teachers Restoring A Watershed program, or STRAW, which involves students from around the Bay Area who take on 25 restorations projects every year.
And it has developed a bay scorecard that assigns letter grades on various aspects of the bay. The first one, issued in 2003, garnered statewide attention.
As part of the aquarium deal, the Bay Institute has formed a partnership with a private company, Kenwood Investments of San Francisco, which will purchase the aquarium, said Will Travis, executive director of the bay commission.
The Bay Institute will then launch a fund-raising campaign to buy the aquarium outright, and turn it into a nonprofit facility.
In addition to operating the aquarium in a way that advances public outreach and education, it will also allow the site to become a clearinghouse for the organizations that are involved in the use, management and protection of the bay, Travis said.
"It will be the first place you go to learn about the bay," Travis said. "It will be the focal point."
Contact Mark Prado via e-mail at mprado@marinij.com