TAMPA — ZooTampa at Lowry Park is one vote away from a major makeover after Hillsborough County commissioners on Wednesday approved a $75 million funding agreement for the zoo, again splitting 4-3.
The deal would send ZooTampa up to $5 million a year from the county’s renewed Community Investment Tax, the half-cent sales tax, through 2041. The zoo has to match every dollar, which brings the total to a $150 million, 15-year capital plan. Commissioners still have to hold a public hearing and a final vote, which is expected Oct. 21.
What the money would build
Much of the plan is about replacing exhibits that date to the 1980s. ZooTampa plans upgrades to its Primate and Asia areas, a bigger elephant habitat, mixed-species habitats in the Africa section and a family coaster in the Australia section, FOX 13 reported.
The headline piece is a new South America section built in two phases at the end of the plan. It would push the zoo across North Boulevard onto land now used for a city of Tampa maintenance facility and overflow parking. Plans include a jaguar flooded forest, an event courtyard and a restaurant. Of the county’s $75 million, $25 million would go to the first South America phase and $18 million to the second, Florida Politics reported.
ZooTampa says the green space around the existing Lowry Park building would stay, and the zoo would keep maintaining the park’s bathrooms and boat ramp. In a statement after the September vote, CEO and president Joe Couceiro said the South America expansion would add public access points to Lowry Park and open more of the Hillsborough River waterfront to residents.
Zoo leaders told Bay News 9 that planning starts in 2027, with the first construction likely in 2028.
“We hope that one day, you know, same way people visit San Diego to go to San Diego Zoo, that people think about, ‘Hey, let’s go to Tampa because we want to go through Tampa,’” ZooTampa Chief Marketing Officer Sandra Torres told FOX 13. The zoo draws about 1.2 million visitors a year.
Why the vote split
Commissioners Ken Hagan, Harry Cohen and Gwen Myers voted no, the same lineup that opposed moving forward in September. Their objection isn’t to the zoo. It’s the math.
The county set aside roughly $50 million in renewed Community Investment Tax money for all cultural institutions, and ZooTampa alone is getting $75 million. The Florida Aquarium, Glazer Children’s Museum, Straz Center, Tampa Bay History Center and Tampa Theatre have together asked for about $90 million more, and Cohen has said the Tampa Museum of Art wants to be considered too.
“I fully support ZooTampa. However, in good conscience, I can’t approve $75 million when we only designated $50 million out of the CIT for all of our cultural institutions,” Hagan said Wednesday, according to Florida Politics. He argued for “a much more modest amount” so the county could fund other institutions.
Commissioner Joshua Wostal, who has championed the deal, has argued that ZooTampa was negotiating long before the other requests came in, and that the other institutions can tap Community Redevelopment Area and tourism money the zoo can’t.
New strings attached
County staff added safeguards to the final version. The county’s share would shrink if ZooTampa lands more money from the city of Tampa for the same projects. The zoo also showed proof of a $3 million line of credit, which it expects to grow to $5 million later this year, and listed 83 smaller projects that could qualify for funding.
There’s one more hurdle for the South America section. Because that expansion would use city land, ZooTampa has to amend its operating agreement with the city of Tampa before any county money can go toward it. County Facilities Management Director John Muller said the zoo is prepared to seek that change.