It’s hard to imagine 120,000 square feet of St. Louis Union Station will be transformed into, of all things, an aquarium.
But more details of the attraction were revealed today at a groundbreaking ceremony, with Mayor Lyda Krewson and Lodging Hospitality Management CEO Bob O’Loughlin in attendance, that outlined plans to revamp the landmark’s historic train shed and mall into a wildlife science and education center.
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Upon entering the aquarium through the station’s south plaza, visitors will walk through an exhibit dedicated to the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. There, they’ll be able to see some of the rivers’ native species and participate in interactive exhibits. On the second floor, an ocean exhibit will include a “stingray reef” with touch tanks. A shark exhibit will offer multiple views, including an overhead bridge.
zoOceanarium Group will operate the aquarium and, in the coming weeks, will announce which aquatic species will be brought to St. Louis.
“We’re lucky we live in a community that has a lot of world-class attractions,” Krewson says, naming the Missouri Botanical Garden and Forest Park as examples. “But the one thing we don’t have in our own backyard is an aquarium. And that always comes up in conversations for people who travel around to visit other cities and other aquariums.”
The aquarium will employ marine biologists and aquarists to oversee water chemistry, animal nutrition, veterinary care, and education. With the attraction’s many educational components, the St. Louis Aquarium at Union Station Foundation, through its Access for All initiative, will provide free field trips for schools that have a high percentage of students living in poverty.
PGAV Destinations, an architecture firm based in St. Louis, has designed the aquarium and McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. will build it. Construction is expected to begin by Thanksgiving, and the attraction is expected to open by summer 2019. Mike Konzen, principal and chair at PGAV, expressed his optimism for constructing the aquarium in the city.
“We made a recent commitment to keep our firm downtown,” he says, adding: “A lot of the developments, such as the Arch grounds and Union Station, have been such a big contributor to that decision and to our sense of optimism and feelings about downtown.”
The St. Louis Aquarium at Union Station is part of a $160 million family entertainment complex planned for the landmark. It joins the Fire & Light Show at the Lake, which opened a year ago. Both components will soon be joined by a 200-foot ferris wheel, located south of the train shed. Union Station’s hotel is also adding 28 new rooms, with completion expected by January 2018.
