Penguin exhibit at Mesker Park Zoo on road to construction with CVB approving funds

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — The planned Humboldt penguin exhibit at Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden took a leap forward Monday with the Convention & Visitors Bureau's approval of $750,000 for the project.

The CVB's contribution is a key piece of the exhibit's total cost of $6.5 million to $7 million. It comes from the Visitors Bureau's budget for tourism capital improvements, and it will come in two payments, one this year and the other in 2020.

The City of Evansville, owner of the zoo, has committed to fund about half of the project's total cost. A private campaign has raised about $1.4 million thus far, and it is ongoing.

The Convention & Visitors Bureau's $750,000 commitment "puts us in a strong position to keep moving forward with this project," said Evan Beck, director of the zoo.

Zoo officials hope to break ground this winter on the exhibit, named Penguins of Patagonia.

The exact start date "depends on cash flow and pledges coming in," Beck said. An opening in 2021 is expected.

The Humboldt penguin exhibit would be the zoo's largest new addition since Amazonia opened in 2008.

The planned exhibit has a habitat for 20-30 Humboldt penguins and includes a location for public feeding, similar to the zoo's giraffe habitat. Humboldt penguins are native to South America.

Monday's vote by the CVB  board to approve the $750,000 over two years was 6-0.

In other business at Monday's CVB board meeting:

• CVB Director Joe Taylor said Evansville's hotel room occupancy rate for March was nearly 70 percent and the average room rate was $96, about 10 and 5 percent above the figures for March 2018. The Ohio Valley Conference men's and women's basketball championship and the NCAA Division II men's basketball championship were credited for the bump.
• Taylor reported that Columbus, Indiana, was awarded the 2020 Indiana Arts Homecoming Awards convention. Evansville had hoped to host the gathering and will bid on it again in future years, Taylor said.
• Old National Events Plaza's Aiken Theatre this year has hosted its two largest-grossing events ever: a John Mellencamp concert and an appearance by comedians Martin Short and Steve Martin, said Alexis Berggren, manager of the venue and a CVB board member.
• Deaconess Sports Park has been hampered somewhat by rainy spring weather but continues to host several youth baseball and softball events, including one that brought 51 teams. "We continue to see strong use, both with local and out-of-town teams," said Tim Fulton, manager of the complex.

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