Sandy Mayor Tom Dolan pushes for aquarium instead of Broadway-style theater

SANDY — This south valley city has admitted defeat in the great Broadway-style theater race and refocused its efforts on expanding The Living Planet Aquarium.

Sandy Mayor Tom Dolan announced the new direction to the local Chamber of Commerce during a formal address Thursday evening.

"It replaces the theater, but it also brings more people to the area than a theater," he said later. "We see it as a real asset to our community. The aquarium itself is a great family-oriented activity."

The aquarium has been a pet project for the five-term mayor for years.

Already, the nonprofit aquarium brings in about 330,000 visitors a year. In comparison, civic leaders were expecting 250,000 annual visitors to the theater complex that was to have been named the Proscenium.

The City Council has given a nod to the Dolan administration to pursue development of a permanent structure for the aquarium near city hall. In its first phase, the building could take up 58,000 square feet.

The property, which was acquired by Sandy in 2009, is located near city hall and public transit. It's already in a redevelopment area, so some of the property taxes collected from any development will be funneled back to its bottom line.

Follow-up meetings are being planned among local elected officials, the aquarium board and private financiers. Dolan has authorized administrative staffers to look into the plan's feasibility.

e-mail: rpalmer@desnews.com