2020 was a rough year for a majority of businesses and organizations. The Waikīkī Aquarium was no different. But thanks to support from donors, the University of Hawaiʻi and state legislature, the aquarium is now looking ahead.
Before the pandemic, the Waikīkī Aquarium relied on visitors and events to financially make ends meet. Although the aquarium is under the University of Hawaiʻi system, it is mostly a self-sufficient entity.
In normal times, it managed to either break even or turn a small profit from its gate receipts, gift shop sales, and renting the grounds for events after hours.
But when the state locked down, the aquarium began depending on its reserves.
"We're bankrolling survival today, using the future of the aquarium," said Andrew Rossiter, executive director of the aquarium, in September.
Rossiter told HPR in September the aquarium would need $880,000 to stay afloat for the next ten months.
Today, nine months later, the aquarium's finances are different. In September, Rossiter was in the process of applying for funding to renovate the aquarium.
"The money I had hoped would come through for a renovation failed to materialize," he said. "But now the university is kindly getting involved. We're now looking at doing more than the renovation, but [a] major construction project."
The project will include work on the lawn, in order to make room for new exhibits, lecture rooms, and facilities to modernize the aquarium. Rossiter says he's been advocating for these types of renovations for 17 years - when he first arrived.
But he's happy and thankful the university is supportive of its mission, and that it is giving the aquarium the ability to move into the future.
In addition to the university injecting funds into the aquarium, the state legislature approved giving additional funds in the last session. The aquarium is expected to see $10 million over the next two years to make other, long overdue, renovations - such as a new wastewater system.
The state department of health in May cited the Waikīkī Aquarium for exceeding wastewater discharge limits into nearshore waters. The wastewater was from the aquarium's exhibits and holding tanks. The DOH, aquarium and UH reached an agreement to update the old system, to one that is acceptable by the DOH.
"This is a consequence of an old building with out-of-date plumbing," he said.
Rossiter says the legislature also allocated another million dollars to help the aquarium address the shortfalls it suffered during the pandemic. The aquarium is also seeking assistance from a federal grant that helps venues, nonprofits and other businesses that have been impacted by the pandemic.
The University of Hawaii also gave the aquarium a loan in the amount of $500,000 to help with its current expenses. Rossiter says an anonymous donor also gave the aquarium $70,000.
As more people get vaccinated, and the overall trend of new cases continues to decline, the aquarium is beginning to set its sights on reopening and recovery.
"Our plan is for the aquarium to reopen during the first week of July," Rossiter said. "We haven't given a firm date yet, because there's a couple of things we need to sort out with the exhibits and such before we can confidently say we'll be open on that day."
Rossiter says the exact reopening date is dependent on where Honolulu is with new cases and its tier system.
"Long story short, we were lucky enough to survive through this," Rossiter said. "And I think going forward, into the next fiscal year, we'll be pretty comfortable. And needless to say, when we do reopen, we will have revenues coming in, and then we'll be safe."
