by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
Even for a trial lawyer, Howard Coker’s latest job qualifies as a wild adventure. The partner at Coker, Myers, Schickel, Sorensen and Green is the new chairman of the board at the Jacksonville Zoo.
Coker’s taking over the chairmanship at a pivotal time. The Range of the Jaguar exhibit has turned the zoo into a regional player in Florida’s tourism market. The $15 million exhibit is the lynch pin in a 10-year, $30 million expansion plan designed to transform the zoo from a locals’ day-trip destination to an attraction competing with Orlando for tourists’ time.
For that to happen, the zoo will have to duplicate its success with the Jaguar exhibit, which rated among the best new exhibits in the country. The exhibit has helped bump the zoo’s annual attendance to well above half a million. About one in nine of those visits came from outside Jacksonville.
“It’s gratifying to see a project like that, where so much had been expected, to actually exceed those expectations,” said Coker. “But beyond that, the Range of the Jaguar shows our potential. It shows that we can have those kind of quality exhibits.”
Coker’s term as chairman lasts two years. During that span, Coker expects to advance a pair of new exhibits — a botanical garden and an Asia exhibit — which are near completion. The Kidzone, an exhibit for kids with an emphasis on education, is 90 percent done.
By the time the expansion is finished, Coker predicts Jacksonville will boast the best zoo south of Washington, D.C.
“That’s when we’ll start to see people coming to Jacksonville with an emphasis on going to the zoo,” he said.
And the zoo has the potential to pry extra tourism dollars from visitors who don’t make it the centerpiece of their visit. The presence of a top-flight zoo could convince business travelers to bring their families to Jacksonville. It could convince vacationers to stay an extra day. That translates to nights spent in local hotels and meals eaten in local restaurants.
And Jacksonville is in a strategic location to divert, at least momentarily, the tourism commuters headed for Orlando, said Coker.
“When you think about it, the Jacksonville Zoo is the first major attraction for anyone headed south on I-95,” said Coker.
He said the zoo’s recent run of success is due to a public/private partnership committed to enhancing Jacksonville’s family-friendly quality of life. The City invested about $12 million in the ongoing expansion, which also has attracted support from a sterling cast of the City’s business leaders. Donors included Delores Barr Weaver and Wayne Weaver, Tom and Betty Petway, Winn-Dixie and the Florida Times-Union.
Coker takes over a board also stocked with heavy hitters. The strength and energy of that board is a key reason Coker expects the zoo to continue to thrive.
Coker is an avid hunter, but he said his hobby has never been an issue with other board members or the zoo staff.
“Nobody has ever made an issue out of it,” said Coker. “What they care about is a commitment to making the zoo a quality place for the people of Jacksonville.”