Bama Bayou's Marine Park

Published by the Mobile Press Register

Bama Bayou's marine park

Sunday, May 27, 2007
By KATHY JUMPER
Real Estate Editor

Jason Jovaag has built public aquariums for cities all over the world and said he's never had any fishy casualties.
He expects no leaks in the 180,000-gallon aquarium under construction at Bama Bayou in Orange Beach or in the four pools built for the marine park's main attraction -- dolphins.
"The most difficult thing is the planning and designing to make the project flawless," said Jovaag, vice president of ATM Commercial Exhibits and ATM Acrylic Tank Manufacturing based in Las Vegas.


ATM designs and builds large aquariums, zoos and museums for clients such as Six Flags Marine World, Vallejo, Calif.; the Houston Zoo; the Mirage Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas; Long Beach Aquarium, Long Beach, Calif.; Gulf World Marine Park, Panama City, Fla.; and Bass Pro Shops.
The 80-foot-long aquarium is one of several water exhibits to be built in Gulf World Marine Park, which should open in summer 2008, according to Rebecca Wilson, marketing coordinator for Bama Bayou.
Bama Bayou, a $300 million resort project under construction on the Intracoastal Waterway, will also include condominiums, a water park, a 68,000-square-foot convention center, shops and restaurants. The developers are Joe Raley Builders of Orange Beach and The Mitchell Company based in Mobile.
The 5-acre marine park will feature a swim-with-the-dolphins pool, dolphin shows and water exhibits with sea lions, alligators, otters, and both fresh water and tropical fish. There will also be two restaurants and a 500-seat theater for tropical bird shows and other events.
About 60 percent of the 24 condominium units in Gulf World's Paradise Resort have presold, Wilson said. The one-bedroom units will have a screened-in balcony and overlook the marine park. The unit prices average $550,000, she said.
Most of the marine park's planned residents have been purchased and are being kept at Gulf World in Panama City until the Baldwin County park is ready, Wilson said. It will take about 120 days to acclimate the dolphins to their new home, she said.
ATM has finished installing the acrylic panels in the 17-foot tall aquarium which will house an artificial Caribbean and Indo-Pacific coral reef with a variety of tropical fish, stingrays and sharks, according to Jovaag. Joe Raley Builders is putting the roof on the aquarium, and will then construct the buildings around the tank, according to Willie Raley. A restaurant will be built on one side of the viewing aquarium.
The aquarium will be covered by buildings, so it will be protected from storms, Jovaag said.
ATM crews will return in two months to build the four pools at the dolphin viewing stadium, Jovaag said. The elevated pools include a performance pool, birth and breeding pool, swim-with-the-dolphins pool, and a backstage resting pool, he said. The dolphin pools must be at least 22 feet deep to meet animal captivity requirements, he said. The four pools will total 3.5 million to 4 million gallons of water on display, he said.
"We're handling the viewing panels, the water features and all of the waterproofing of the exhibits,"
Jovaag said.
One key to engineering the tank structures is to use viewing windows of a thickness designed for each specific animal, according to Jovaag. The thickness is based on how much water is in the tank. For example, the otter exhibit does not have as much water and will not require very thick viewing windows, he said.
It took 2½ years to plan the marine park, which will take almost a year to build, Jovaag said. "There are only two companies in the world that do what we do. I've traveled all over, from Prague to Turkey to Mexico."
He admitted he had never heard of Orange Beach before this project, but said he has fallen for the area and enjoys his stays here.
Presales are under way at Bama Bayou Resort and Convention Center, with 142 of the 208 units in the first phase already presold at prices from $335,000 to $455,000, according to J. Stradley of Ono Professional Partners. Plans call for as many as 650 units to be built next to the convention center. “Sales are slow at the Gulf," Stradley said. "People are still cautious. They've heard so much in the last two years about overpricing and the market dropping and outrageous insurance rates."
But insurance rates are dropping, and so is the condo inventory, he said. More units are selling, and owners who are not desperate to sell are taking their properties off the market, he said. There are about 3,000 condo units listed for sale in Baldwin County, according to Realtors.
In July 2005, just prior to Katrina, there were 72 condo units listed for sale. "We're optimistic the market is going to come back, but it will probably take all year for it to readjust," Stradley said. "By the beginning of next year, it should take off like a bat."
Construction on Bama Bayou's water park at Bayou Beach on the western side of Alabama 59, could start in August, Wilson said. The 40-acre site includes condos and a water park with water slides, a lazy river, wave pool and exotic animal exhibits. Joe Warrington, owner of Waterville in Gulf Shores, said last week that he wasn't interested in talking about Bama Bayou's water park. "These guys want to sell property and need a water park to do it," he said. "We're looking forward to a big season at Waterville. We have $2.5 million in new goods" including a Flowrider surf machine. Warrington said he has also been busy working as a consultant for The Wharf's Oasis, which features three pools and a white-sand beach in a tropical setting for use by condo owners and guests. The Wharf is a residential, marina and entertainment development directly across the Intracoastal Waterway from Bama Bayou. Raley of Joe Raley Builders and his crew are building the roof for the aquarium at Gulf World Marine Park. At left are acrylic panels on the aquarium, which will be uncovered, letting visitors view the tropical fish, stingrays and sharks.