Aquarium gets new 3-year lease

The Living Planet Aquarium has a new lease on life.

That lease expires June 30, 2008.

Until then, aquarium backers will have time to raise support for their project, which is slated to be built on four acres the Salt Lake City Redevelopment Agency owns at 336 S. 400 West.

The RDA Board, which is the City Council, had previously wanted to kick the aquarium off that land, but instead the board approved a new lease Thursday that gives the aquarium at least three more years to come up with between $40 million and $53 million to build the facility.

If the aquarium doesn't begin construction by June 30, 2008, the RDA can take back the property and use it for a different project.

Aquarium proponents said they are hopeful they can raise the money. They have been in talks with the Salt Lake County Council about putting an aquarium bond on the 2006 ballot to let voters decide if they will accept a tax increase to fund part of the aquarium's construction.

Aquarium President Brent Andersen said he is also talking with private donors, corporations and looking to secure federal grants.

There is also the possibility that outside developers will financially back the project and could include retail, office and housing developments on or around the aquarium property.

Council member Dale Lambert raised concerns about those other developments, saying they could change the project into something other than what city leaders anticipate.

"What I'm fearful of here is that this project might be driven by other uses and not what we had contemplated," Lambert said.

However, RDA staffers noted the new lease, which charges the aquarium only $12 yearly, requires that the aquarium be at least 75,000 square feet, have at least 800,000 square feet of exhibition space and cost at least $40 million. Those were significant requirements to assure the city that a first-class aquarium will be the centerpiece of the project, RDA deputy director Valda Tarbet said.

Andersen said the project could also include classroom space for grade school students and may also have some space for university biology students.

Aquarium proponents and the RDA staff have been in negotiations for several months. The aquarium surprised the RDA Board when it announced late last year that it planned to exercise an option it had to purchase the land from the RDA. City leaders had been hoping to end their lease with the aquarium and reclaim that land to be used for another potential project.

City leaders didn't want to give up control of the land because they worried it would sit vacant for years. Instead the aquarium and RDA worked out an agreement giving the aquarium more time to come up with its needed funding.

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E-mail: bsnyder@desnews.com