Downtown Neighbors Track Clearwater Marine Aquarium's Visitor Impact

To Jack Mortimer the numbers just did not add up.

He is president and founder of the Downtown Neighborhood Association and lives in Water’s Edge, on the side facing the Harborview Center.

He has a first row seat to the foot traffic coming and going from the nearly 300,000 people visiting Winter’s Dolphin Tale Adventure.

But that is not what he noticed.

Cleveland Street and Osceola Avenue, the intersection outside of the Harborview Center, teem with visitors walking to the attraction from the marina or standing outside waiting for the Jolley Trolley.

But the restaurants, just a few hundred feet away, do not see an influx from the steady stream of people, Mortimer said. They are empty, or doing the same business as they ever did.

If so many people are coming downtown, where are they? 

So, the group went on its own fact-finding mission.

“Saying (the aquarium) brings (visitors) downtown is a really misleading statement right now,” Mortimer said, noting that the people are coming to the Harborview Center, not anywhere else. “It just didn’t add up. We decided to look rather than listen."

The neighborhood group had its first official meeting Tuesday and shared its results. Five association members stood outside the attraction with hand held counters on Feb. 18, Presidents Day, and Feb. 21.

Mortimer said the survey confirmed thousands visit the displays of movie sets and props at the Harborview Center. It also showed them many of those visitors scuttle back to the Jolley Trolley or marina for the boat ride back to Island Estates.

• 1,375 people went to Winter's Dolphin Tale Adventure on Feb. 18, Presidents Day. Only 40 people went around the corner to downtown.
• The group counted 692 visitors on Feb. 21. Only 11 went to downtown.

The idea for the study came in December, Mortimer said. It just so happens their study comes on the precipice of the aquarium’s proposal to redevelop City Hall and the Coachman Park area as part of a $160 million water front attraction.

That was not intentional, Mortimer said.

“It wasn’t by design,” he said by phone Wednesday. “We wanted to do it before the presentation... before it was addressed.”

He said he hopes many of the concerns are handled as part of the proposal, saying the aquarium’s plans took them by surprise.

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“We think and feel that this is a time to bring it up,” he said. “I think it will be better for the aquarium and they can address it.”

The group offered ideas including relaxed sign rules or better signage to promote some of the downtown restaurants and other businesses.

“The way they operate hustles people away very quickly and gets them to the main aquarium,” Mortimer said. “It’s been this way for some time.”

Right now Mortimer said it is evident there is no real economic impact to the area surrounding the Harborview Center.

“You say a new aquarium will bring tons of revenue and success to downtown, show us now.”

Visit: downtownneighborhood.net

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• Clearwater Marine Aquarium Opens Downtown Attraction
• Experience A Hurricane at Clearwater Marine Aquarium
• See Winter the Dolphin by Water Ferry
• Winter’s Dolphin Tale Adventure Looks to Grow
• Winter’s ‘Dolphin Tale’ Could Net $5 Billion for Clearwater Area
• Coachman Park Committee Cool With Aquarium Plan for Harborview Center
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