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DEL.ICIO.USMarcus to give up reins of aquarium after a year
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia Aquarium benefactor Bernie Marcus said he will turn his $200-million-plus fish tank over to a nonprofit board of directors about a year after it opens.
Marcus said he plans to leave “an efficient working machine that’s going to be operating properly to a board and say, ‘Here now, it’s your responsibility. Now you take care of it.’ ”
Marcus, who co-founded Home Depot in Atlanta, has said he is building the 500,000-square-foot facility as a gift to the people of Georgia, whom he credits for the early success of his business. Marcus is providing most of the aquarium’s construction cost, with a little help from several major Atlanta-based corporations.
Cost estimates on the aquarium run as high as $280 million, though Marcus has refused to speculate on a final tab.
There had been some speculation that Marcus might eventually turn over the aquarium to the city of Atlanta or possibly the state.
“It is absolutely not going to the city or state,” Marcus said. “It’s a nonprofit organization that’s been set up already. It already has a board of advisers that will turn into a board of directors. They’re going to run it the same way you run any nonprofit.”
The 76-year-old mogul said his wife, Billi, and “some members of the Marcus Foundation” likely will serve on the board that eventually runs the ship-shaped facility. During the construction phase, the aquarium, which opens Nov. 23, has been run as a tax-exempt nonprofit — technically known as a 501(c) 3 — set up under the auspices of the Marcus Foundation.
Many public aquariums have struggled because they began life saddled with huge construction debt. In some cases, revenues failed to meet expectations and they had to be bailed out by local and state governments.
“Many aquariums essentially open with a mortgage, and that’s a huge disadvantage,” said Ken Peterson, spokesman for the world-class Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. Those fish tanks have to cover not only their operating cost, but payments of their debt.
The Monterey aquarium, which was built by David and Lucile Packard (of the Hewlett-Packard fortune) and opened debt-free in 1984, is operated like the Georgia Aquarium, as a nonprofit.
Peterson said the major disadvantage of a nonprofit is that you don’t get any government subsidies.
But the arrangement has many benefits, he said.
“Contributions by outside individuals are tax-deductive, so it’s an incentive for people to donate,” he said. “And you have full control of your own operations. You’re not subject to anybody else’s rules.”
Prior to the Georgia Aquarium’s opening, Marcus has essentially called all the shots. The aquarium already has an audit committee and a human resources committee, but it’s not a democracy.
“It’s just that now I’m making all the decisions, and they’re not,” Marcus said. It is that arrangement that permitted Marcus to keep many details of his big fish tank under wraps. He made contractors, university officials and even corporate bigwigs sign “non-disclosure agreements” to keep their lips sealed. Marcus said his primary goal is to turn over a debt-free facility that is generating enough revenue to cover its operating costs.
Public aquariums are notoriously expensive to operate. Two of the nation’s biggest, Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium and the Monterey Aquarium, have annual budgets of about $40 million each.
Georgia Aquarium officials have said they will not know what their operating budget is until they have been in operation a year.
Marcus said he thinks operating costs will be covered by “money they make on the gate and the social events at the aquarium.” The aquarium rents its massive ballroom for social functions.
Marcus dismissed any notion that city or state money might be needed to cover operating costs in the future.
“I hope that never happens,” he said.
Comments
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By Michael Rainey
November 7, 2005 12:29 PM | Link to this
I have a programs for homeless women with children. Who would I contact to have homeless children have a chance to come and visit?
Thanks.
Michael Rainey (404) 702-1587
By Keon Johnson
November 7, 2005 01:29 PM | Link to this
This is going to be a tremendous opportunity for the city of Atlanta specifically and the state of Georgia generally. Let’s hope the power that be don’t mess up this grand opportunity. Mr. Marcus knows exactly what he’s doing in not giving this to the state or public dominion of influence….have you seen ZOO Atlanta lately?
By Nancy
November 7, 2005 02:31 PM | Link to this
To Michael Rainey,
Come on, Michael. You don’t blog a request for Aquarium information in the AJC and expect the folks at the Aquarium to know you need help. That’s like me blogging here about American Idol and expecting Simon Cowell to call me back. Obviously, you have a computer, so go to the Georgia Aquarium website and write them. Your writing such a request here does not inspire confidence in the smarts of those helping the homeless in Atlanta.
By Melllllll1
November 8, 2005 12:33 PM | Link to this
This aquarium is such a slap in the face to Chattanooga. People will do anything for money. Even stab their neighbor in the back.
By Melllllll1
November 8, 2005 12:37 PM | Link to this
Nancy….You’re arrogant tongue does not inspire the confidence that southern people are as nice as they seem to think they are. What a rude b*** you are.
By Daniel
November 8, 2005 12:41 PM | Link to this
The Chattanooga Aquarium will be just fine. Chattanooga is drawing more people to the city than just for the aquarium. People from Atlanta will still escape to Chattanooga for a getaway and vice versa.
By Jair Sweatman
November 8, 2005 01:07 PM | Link to this
Thank you Shirley Franklin and the City of Atlanta for not getting in the way of something special for Atlanta and the state of Georgia. This wonderful and beautiful gift from the Marcus Foundation is exceptional in every way! It would not have been so if the city or the state had not been willing to get out of the way and let a successful businessman and his operating agenda do what they have done. Mr. Marcus and his partner Mr. Blank have both given Atlanta and the state as a whole something to be proud of. First we had a new bird, (Falcons) and now we have a bunch of new fish and two whale sharks! (I think we should call them ‘Bernie’ and ‘Arthur’).
By Duckie
November 8, 2005 02:32 PM | Link to this
Michael - If you go to the aquarium website you will see information about sponsored visits under “education” http://www.georgiaaquarium.org/teachersAndKids/sponsoredAdmission.aspx