May 7, 2008 - Atlanta's never seen the likes of a philanthropist like this one

Tim Darnell

May 7, 2008

Other than Robert Woodruff, has Atlanta ever seen the philanthropic likes of Bernie Marcus?

First, he takes a track of land downtown that was abandoned, dilapidated and populated by ne'er do well "residents," and turns it into Atlanta's biggest tourist attraction (you so-called community leaders who condemned Marcus' efforts or wanted to prey off them, go dive in a great white shark tank).

Now, he's making his gift even more massive, this time by building a $110 million dolphin exhibit that will open in winter 2010. The expansion will add 84,000 square feet to the facility (about the size of two football fields), including a 1.3 million gallon exhibit to accommodate bottlenose dolphins.

Incredible.

When Seth, our company Internet guru who's also an aquarium volunteer, first told me about it, the first thought that went through my mind was, where can Marcus find two football fields worth of space downtown?

Then came the easy answer. The west side of the building near the Luckie Street parking deck. Even beyond that, there's plenty of scuzzy land downtown that is aching for redevelopment.

And this is yet another plus for the Marietta and Luckie streets districts, an area being profiled in our June issue of BTB. Also, don't overlook the role that Jim Jacoby, owner of Marineland of Florida and a member of the Georgia Aquarium board, is playing in all of this.

"For four years, my friend Jim Jacoby has encouraged me to partner with him to bring dolphins to Atlanta, because they are the aquatic animal that most people know and love, and still there is a dire need in this area of the country to help dolphins," Marcus said yesterday. "Even before the Aquarium opened in 2005, Jim made the incredible offer to lend us up to four trained dolphins on a breeding loan from his world-famous Marineland. With the expansion we are announcing today, we will have an 84,000 square foot space, about the size of two football fields, with a 1.3 million gallon exhibit to accommodate them, and graciously accept Jim's offer."