The Rockford Aquarium has engaged in a Ten Plus year-long strategic planning process that solicited the views of many constituents, including international, national, and local industry and community leaders, along with our Board of Trustees, organizations, volunteers, and donors.
This journey has underscored the need for an Aquatic Center in the Tri-state area, which will be located in the County of Winnebago, in the City of Rockford, Illinois.
Having completed, during Ten plus years, an extensive and broadly focused consultative and planning process leading to the current and anticipated goal of a location along the banks of the Rock River, and working in conjunction with the City of Rockford, and J. JEFFERS Development, for the use and occupancy of the Barber Colman Campus located in the on the South Main Corridor, the Rockford Aquarium now stands ready to move forward, to realize the goals articulated in that seminal Feasibility Study of 2013.
This Website 2022-25 is, in large measure, a roadmap plotting the route to be followed to reach the destination set for the Aquarium in the Strategic Feasibility Study.
The Rockford’s Aquarium mission, reconfirmed in the ongoing strategic planning process, commits the organization to promoting access to education and enlightenment for all visitors and to achieving excellence in learning, in edutainment venues, research and scholarship, and in service to the community, the county, the State of Illinois and the broader marketplace who will visit from across the United States.
The Board of the Aquarium, working with the recently formed Waterpower District Foundation, has extensive experience providing consulting services and economic expansion to support the aquarium development.
The studies provided by ConsultEcon, Inc. have been essential to the economic planning of the Project, as they provide objective economic feasibility analysis, project right-sizing analysis, and created the initial operating plan for the proposed Project.
The Board of the Aquarium has become familiar with Rockford’s market and location context, particularly from our prior work over the years.
The Waterpower District Cultural, Educational, and Entertainment Foundation using the Abbreviation WDF is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization whose primary mission is twofold.
The principal office of the Corporation is located in Winnebago County, Illinois, or at such other place as the Board of Directors may, from time to time, appoint, or the purposes of the Corporation may require.
The organization work in cooperation with such organizations as the City of Rockford, Winnebago County, Rockford Area Economic Development Council, the Rockford Area Convention & Visitors Bureau (RACVB), River District Association, Rockford Local Development Corporation (“RLDC”), Region 1 Planning Council, The Rockford Park District, Transform Rockford, The Rockford Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Development Authority, the Northern Illinois Community Foundation, and other like local/regional community groups.
The Waterpower District Cultural, Educational, and Entertainment Foundation – (Using the Abbreviation, WDF) As an operating foundation, WDF, will predominantly undertake charitable activities and will be significantly involved in its own projects in a continuing and sustaining fashion.
The operating foundation will lay out a clearly defined goal and use the endowment to achieve those goals directly through its operations. The funding model will consider the current economic climate, funding needs for the organization, and the recent impact of Covid19 on current developments.
Our work over the past years with ConsultEcon, the Aquarium’s Development Consulting Arm, will help finalize the plans for visitor attractions’ updated feasibility, development, and reinvestment.
Together we will focus on issues related to visitation projections, facility pricing and marketing, operations, economic feasibility, and project economic impacts.
We will also work with aquatic representatives, educators, architects, engineers, and other related professionals on the project implementation, timeline, and master plans.
The overall work will set the framework for other tourist professionals to identify anticipated visitation levels, seasonality of visitation, cost return trade-offs, and related issues critical to successful planning.
Evaluation of the market support for and financial feasibility of visitor attractions for the Aquarium. Development of business plans and master plans for visitor attractions, particularly aquariums.
Repositioning visitor attractions to better address their audiences, respond to market and funding changes, and identify strategies to enhance mission fulfillment.
Analyze new strategies to increase earned revenue potential at the proposed attractions.
Working with existing visitor attractions’ staff and board in developing strategic operating plans that are mission-focused and that focus on the changing visitor attraction’s marketplace.
An evaluation of management staffing and operational aspects of aquatic programs and projects and analysis of alternative organizational models where needed.
Analysis of the socio-economic impacts associated with Project and program development.
Targeted strategies for achieving Project and plan implementation.
We will focus on developing and expanding the objectives of the Project, reviewing existing documents related to the proposed Aquarium, and defining how the proposed Aquarium would be positioned in the marketplace.
We will meet key project players, as appropriate, to establish more fully the context for the Project.
The Task would include a review of the proposed site in Rockford, as discussed in Task 2 below.
We will interview individuals with local and regional economies and visitor markets to better understand the current local context and visit attractions in the area to understand the base of the existing regional attractions. We will also review other changes and improvements in the local area that will affect the future performance of the Aquarium.
We will review the site for the Aquarium from a market and economic perspective. Our site review will include site accessibility, visibility, site layout, adjacent and nearby land uses, especially the context of being located as part of a more extensive, mixed-use development, nearby attractions, parking, and public transportation, as well as the visitor services and amenities available nearby.
These site qualities will be presented in a descriptive narrative with an assessment of the site’s merits and issues to be considered as the development process moves forward.
Overall, this task will focus on and reflect the unique characteristics of Rockford and the proposed site within Rockford.
We will define the potential market segments for the proposed Aquarium. The task would include resident and tourist markets. Market segments will include:
We will define the residential market reach for this project, based on travel times and alternative activities.
We will segment the residential market into primary, secondary, and tertiary markets as appropriate.
We will analyze demographic characteristics of the markets including population, growth patterns, age profile, and income as data are available.
Transportation, as well as the visitor services and amenities available nearby.
These site qualities will be presented in a descriptive narrative with an assessment of the site’s merits and issues to be considered as the development process moves forward.
Overall, this task will focus on and reflect the unique characteristics of Rockford and the proposed site within Rockford.
We will analyze the visitor market segments to and through Rockford, including group travel, pass-through, VFR’s and general tourists by place of origin to the extent that data are available.
Issues to be investigated will include place of origin, length of stay, trip activities, accommodations, spending patterns, demographic characteristics and other such factors which will influence tourist response to the project.
If there is absent comprehensive quantitative data, we will interpolate from existing data.
We will interview representatives of organizations involved in the tourism industry to better understand current trends and market opportunities through 2025.
We will review the current competitive environment for the Aquarium project in Rockford. The environment review includes the current mix of attractions in the area, including annual attendance, admission pricing, memberships, exhibit content/visitor experience, programs, revenues, and other operating information, as data are available through 2025.
We will study and analysis benchmarks of up eight aquariums nationally to include area population, attendance, facility size, operating costs, revenue profile, and ticket prices to establish appropriate industry benchmarks.
Based on the work in previous tasks and reflecting the Aquarium concepts and proposed program, attendance potential will be estimated and projected for the project.
The potential annual visitation to the project will be evaluated by market segment, and attendance mix (adult, children, and education group), as appropriate. Ticket pricing issues will be explicitly included in this evaluation of attendance potential.
A five-year attendance potential analysis reflecting early year high attendance patterns, stabilized attendance and long-term growth potential will be prepared. We will also break out the annual visitation by month and by peak and design days so that other planning factors such as parking needs can be identified at the site location.
Based on the proposed Aquarium concepts and facility program, trade-offs between ticket prices and attendance will be assessed. Optimum admission price levels will be determined based on physical capacity of the Aquarium program, the content of the visitor experience, seasonality, and the attendance goals of the project sponsors. These revenue projections will be input to the overall financial planning for the project. Based on our extensive experience in the aquarium industry, data from comparable projects and local conditions, we will estimate achievable per capita expenditures for associated retail and food service components of the project, as appropriate, and develop assumptions regarding other potential sources of income i.e. iterative programs, events or facility rentals, memberships, as appropriate.
Operating expense projections will be based on the project size, program, and local factors for utility costs, personnel, benefits, etc. A prototypical personnel plan will be prepared including industry salary levels informed by local conditions, as appropriate. Optimum marketing expenditures will be estimated. The experience of other comparable aquariums and local attractions will be important data sources for the operating expense analysis.
A set of five-year revenue and operating expense pro formas will be prepared for the proposed Aquarium. These will be presented along with detailed tables and sensitivity analyses as annotated project operating pro formas along with accompanying notes and explanations. The focus of these evaluations will be on the long-term sustainability of operations. This analyses will include a preliminary internal rate of return (IRR) analysis for the Rockford Aquarium based on development cost assumptions developed in conjunction with the client group and preliminary development cost assumptions.
A concise final draft report will be prepared and submitted for review and comment. An executive summary suitable for separate distribution will also be included. Following review, a revised final report will be issued to client group along with recommended next steps.
