The county’s $20 million pledge has not been finalized, requiring additional budget approvals and the issuance of a bond. Moore said Mote has not had any donors back out because of the pandemic or other reasons, but those commitments don’t necessarily translate to cash in hand at the moment. To date, work on the site has focused preliminary improvements such as construction of a parking lot. Mote leaders joined local and state officials to celebrate the groundbreaking of the aquarium project in November. “We’re waiting to make a big announcement when the time is appropriate,” Moore said. Michael Moore, a special adviser leading the $130 million fundraising campaign, said the organization hopes to meet its goal by the end of 2021. Mote officials declined to share up-to-date fundraising numbers, but as of summer 2020, the organization had secured $75 million in commitments - less than 60% of its $130 million fundraising goal. Still, half a year removed from breaking ground, there remains a series of tasks remaining. “This site is going to be a gateway for Southwest Florida and a gateway for the sea.” bringing Mote SEA alive,” Mote President and CEO Michael Crosby said in November. “Today we are celebrating this milestone event. In November, Mote held a groundbreaking for the aquarium, hosting local and state officials who spoke effusively about the plans for a landmark attraction. Those developments occurred prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic locally, but Mote officials said the health emergency hasn’t had any effect on its plans for the project. In early 2020, the organization secured a commitment of $20 million in tourist tax funding from Sarasota County and an additional $5 million from Manatee County. In 2018, Sarasota County approved the terms of a land use deal with Mote, setting aside 11 acres of county-owned property for the project. They’ve cleared a number of hurdles necessary to facilitate the project, called the Mote Science Education Aquarium - Mote SEA for short. Since 2018, Mote officials have been pursuing plans for a new four-story, 110,000-square-foot aquarium on county-owned land in Nathan Benderson Park. ![]() A tract of dirt near Interstate 75 and University Parkway may not have looked like much to motorists for the past six months, but Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium sees the upturned soil as the first step of what the organization expects to be a transformative project for the region.
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