Mote Science Education Aquarium to break ground in late September and have a positive economic impact for the Suncoast

SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) -

On Thursday, July 16th, Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium announced that they would be breaking ground on the state-of-the-art Mote Science Education Aquarium, or Mote SEA, in late September at Nathan Benderson Park. The project will take roughly two years to complete once the structure of the facility is built, leaving an estimated completion date for the winter of 2022 or the spring of 2023.

Mote SEA will be an iconic, 110,000-square-foot hub of marine science education and outreach and it will be a nexus site for Sarasota and Manatee counties and the southwest Florida region. It will feature more than 1 million gallons of exhibits with marine life and scientific displays from around the world and is projected to double the attendance of the current Mote Aquarium.

Its projected economic impacts include $280 million from construction alone and $28 million per year from operations. Mote SEA will have interactive state-of-the-art STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) teaching labs and will offer educational programming to over 65,000 students from Sarasota and Manatee county schools free of charge.

“We’re working with the school systems in both Sarasota and Manatee counties to make sure that when the classes come its more than just a field trip to Mote Sea, but that It’s actually a core piece of their curriculum that they are required in order to meet the standards of education at every different grade level,” says Dr. Michael Crosby, President and CEO of Mote Marine Laboratory.

The rebirth of Mote Aquarium on mainland Sarasota County will lead to the next step in the evolution of Mote’s City Island research campus into an enhanced International Marine Science, Technology & Innovation Park. This will provide Mote researchers, science and technology entrepreneurs and their international partners much-needed facilities for expanded intensive research and allow Mote’s best and brightest to excel in addressing the significant threats facing Earth’s oceans.

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