Kansas City Zoo’s new aquarium has a name. You’d never guess who it’s named after
The new 650,000-gallon aquarium at the Kansas City Zoo has a name: The Sobela Ocean Aquarium, the zoo unveiled Tuesday morning.
Benefactors Barnett and Shirley Helzberg selected the name to honor their grandchildren, Sawyer, Oliver, Benton, Elias, Leo, Amelia and Arthur.
The aquarium, which has been years in the making, started with an idea by the Helzbergs, said Sean Putney, executive director and CEO of the Kansas City Zoo in a news release.
“They knew that a lot of kids in Kansas City would never get to see the ocean in person, so they wanted to bring the ocean and all its wonders to them right here in the middle of the country,” Putney said. “They made the first financial commitment to see the project come to life.”
The aquarium, which is scheduled to open Sept. 1, will have more than 8,000 animals, including a sea turtle, sharks, giant Pacific octopus and sea otters. It will feature six zones with 34 habitats, telling how ocean currents connect animals across the world.
The aquarium has more than five miles of pipes located behind the scenes in a water filtration system to keep the animals healthy.
Funding for the $77 million aquarium project came from the Zoological District, which provided $45 million, and private donations, which raised another $32 million. The Zoological District is made up of Jackson and Clay counties, who approved a 1/8 of a cent sales tax in 2011 to support the Kansas City Zoo.
An additional $10 million is being raised through private donations for an endowment to support the aquarium in the future.
JE Dunn Construction is serving as the general contractor on the project, which was designed by the architectural firms of El Dorado and EHDD.
This story was originally published May 9, 2023 at 1:32 PM.
