Toronto to get a Ripley’s Aquarium in 2013
Posted August 10, 2011 3:07 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A Ripley’s Aquarium is scheduled to open in the summer of 2013, and construction of the 150,000 square foot attraction at the foot of the CN Tower has already begun.
An official announcement will be made next Wednesday at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and those attending the groundbreaking will include Jim Pattison Jr., son of B.C. billionaire Jim Pattison and president of Orlando-based Ripley’s Entertainment, Mayor Rob Ford and Ontario tourism minister Michael Chan.
Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada will stretch three acres south of the tower and will feature over 10,000 species of marine animal and a large underwater tunnel that visitors can walk to see fish and possibly, sharks all around them.
The aquarium is expected to be a boon for the district and is the city’s first new tourist attraction in almost 20 years since the Hockey Hall of Fame.
“It’s going to be a tremendous asset, a tremendous boost to tourism. It will give us a very new attraction in the city for visitors to come and enjoy,” Rob Berry, the city’s manager of sector and strategic partnerships told CityNews.ca
“We’re very, very pleased that [Ripley’s] chose Toronto in which to establish this new aquarium.”
Ripley’s will foot the bulk of the cost, investing $110 million with various levels of government expected to contribute about $10 million each, the Toronto Star reported.
However, Berry said that the city’s contribution is a deferral of a percentage of property taxes for 10 years though a city incentive program for commercial and industrial corporations.
“The amount is to be determined upon completion of the construction of the aquarium,” he said, but estimated that “property tax relief will be in the the range of $8-to-12
million dollars.”
Work on the aquarium started about two weeks, Berry said.
Ripley’s runs two other aquariums in Tennesee and South Carolina.
