The Clearwater Marine Aquarium will not be moving from its cramped and aging Island Estates attraction to a much bigger and more modern downtown Clearwater facility after all.
CMA officials say it would take too long to raise millions of dollars for a new aquarium and then more time to build it, so the current facility will be upgraded and expanded instead.
The decision is bad news for Clearwater officials, who had hoped to revive a downtown pocked with empty store fronts.
But it will likely be seen as good news at the Florida Aquarium in Tampa, which feared a new and improved CMA would steal tourists and their money away.
