New, Improved and Renamed Aquarium Will Re-Open Next Year

CAMDEN, NJ-The 12-year-old New Jersey State Aquarium, a centerpiece of this city’s waterfront redevelopment, is closed. But not for long: It’s slated to re-open next May, some 86,000 sf larger and with all-new and expanded displays, according to Greg Charbeneau, executive director of the Adventure Aquarium, as the venue will now be called.

“We have actively worked for years on designing, developing and populating Adventure Aquarium,” Charbeneau says. The shuttering of the existing facility, with drew some eight million visitors in its 12-year history, is the next step in a process that began earlier this year when Steiner & Associates broke ground for construction of the 86,000-sf expansion.

The existing venue is getting a substantial makeover, according to David Wechsler, president of Steiner Entertainment, which will actually operate the state-owned facility under a contract with the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority. Altogether, the new facility will total some 200,000 sf when it re-opens.