by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
When the Jacksonville Zoo unveils its $15 million Range of the Jaguar exhibit in March, administrators are counting on the extra four–and–a–half acres to expand the zoo’s marketing presence from Orlando through South Georgia.
The Range is the foundation for the zoo’s 10–year, $30 million expansion plan. By 2015, management hopes to have made the transition from day–trip destination for Mandarin families to a regional attraction, competing with Orlando theme parks for tourists’ time.
About half that money has been spent up front to create in the Jaguar exhibit an experience unique to the region, said Marketing Manager Jennifer Vrban.
The jaguars will prowl a scaled-down Mayan temple, hand–carved from cement to resemble authentic ruins. The temple overlooks an aviary, a giant river otter exhibit and a bustling faux marketplace shaded by palm trees so big they’re planted by a crane. All this will have tongues wagging, Vrban said, helping draw more local and regional visitors and providing fundraising momentum toward the expansion’s next phase.
“There’s no similar experience (in North Florida or South Georgia) to what we offer here,” said Vrban. “Within a two–hour driving time — that gets us to Savannah, Brunswick, Gainesville — that’s the regional market we’re looking at, and there’s really no direct competition for us.”
The zoo has targeted for 2004 a 10 percent increase in visitors from last year’s 515,000. Vrban said the early numbers for this fiscal year are already exceeding those projections, even without the Range of the Jaguar.
Vrban said the zoo drew about 50,000 visitors last year from outside Jacksonville. When the new exhibit opens, Vrban said the zoo could attract 25,000 more tourist visits. The zoo will spend $400,000 in recently allocated City money to promote the Range through regional airwaves and along highways leading to Jacksonville.
Although the zoo’s reach is unlikely to extend to tourists outside the region, its expansion could still add to the bottom line of Jacksonville’s hospitality and service industries. While a family may not schedule a vacation strictly to visit the Jacksonville Zoo, Vrban said the zoo’s presence could convince business travelers to bring their families with them or convince vacationers to stay an extra day. The extra day translates to nights spent in hotels and restaurant meals, said Vrban.
“When you look at the family atmosphere the City is trying to capitalize on for the Super Bowl and just tourism in general, the zoo plays a pretty important role,” said Vrban. “When you have a good zoo, families are much more likely to spend that extra day.”
The City has invested about $12 million into the zoo’s expansion and is counting on the Range of the Jaguar to help sell a family–friendly quality of life to Super Bowl visitors in Feb. 2005.
The expansion has attracted support from a sterling cast of City political and business leaders, including $3 million from Delores and Wayne Weaver, $2.5 million from Winn–Dixie and $1 million from Tom and Betty Petway. That enviable list of advocates is evidence of the zoo’s value said Vrban.
“People are much more inclined to give when they know they’re going to be associated with a good product or service,” she said.
The zoo’s commitment to the exhibit’s quality is evident, ironically, by cracked walks and walls, the temple’s intricate decay and shoring inside the the temple’s passageway that appears on the verge of collapse.
The construction team has spent weeks chiseling imperfections into new rock and spray painting hundreds of years of decay onto the temple walls. It’s all an effort to provide visitors with an authentic experience.
Inside the temple’s measured lighting, glass partitions will seem to disappear, bringing visitors unnervingly close to vampire bats and poisonous reptiles. Surround sound emanating from the temple’s 18 speakers will immerse the visitors in the chirping, growling, hissing South American surroundings.
“The concept is, we don’t want people to know for sure if the animal they’re looking at is behind the glass,” said Vrban.
Aside from scaring the visitors, the zoo is counting on this room to serve another no–less–important purpose. When the zoo’s regular hours close, the temple’s inside will become one of Jacksonville’s creepiest fundraising tools. Vrban said after–hours parties are already planned, pointing to a pair of weathered cypress doors that swing back to reveal a wet bar.