Albany Aquarium: Idea Whose Time Has Come?

WAMC Northeast Public Radio | By Dave Lucas

Published June 19, 2013 at 11:56 AM EDT

The idea of a building a convention center in downtown Albany has been on the back burner for some time... a developer has come up with a new plan for the land. Democratic Albany Mayoral Candidate Corey Ellis has been a proponent of building a city aquarium for some time - now Omni Development Corporation is pushing that idea along with a science museum and an IMAX theater to be constructed on the site of the flat-lined convention center project between Broadway and the South Mall Arterial.

According to the Times Union, the facility could be built through private fundraising and state economic development money - but feasibility study is needed to figure out how large the project should be and a better idea of what it would cost.

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Dave Lucas

Dave Lucas is WAMC’s Capital Region Bureau Chief. Born and raised in Albany, he’s been involved in nearly every aspect of local radio since 1981. Before joining WAMC, Dave was a reporter and anchor at WGY in Schenectady. Prior to that he hosted talk shows on WYJB and WROW, including the 1999 series of overnight radio broadcasts tracking the JonBenet Ramsey murder case with a cast of callers and characters from all over the world via the internet. In 2012, Dave received a Communicator Award of Distinction for his WAMC news story "Fail: The NYS Flood Panel," which explores whether the damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee could have been prevented or at least curbed. Dave began his radio career as a “morning personality” at WABY in Albany.

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