A beachside aquarium is looking unlikely in Hampton, but Friends of the Earth, Sea & Space Center still hope to locate somewhere on the Seacoast. 

The genesis of the idea came after Seacoast resident Crystal Kent visited the National Aquarium in Baltimore, which first opened its doors in the early 1980s. Kent saw how the facility helped revitalize the city’s waterfront, and she realized an aquarium on New Hampshire’s Seacoast could have a similar impact.

“I thought this area would be perfect for a large-scale aquarium. We have historical ties to the sea, we have cultural ties to the sea and we have educational ties to the sea,” Kent said. “Our heritage is shipbuilding and fishing, and it just seemed like this would be such a great fit for the area.”

Kent is chair of the board of directors for the Friends of the Earth, Sea & Space Center, which plans to open a 44,000- to 55,000-square-foot museum and aquarium somewhere on the Seacoast. The facility would take a holistic approach to environmental education, using large-scale, interactive exhibits to highlight the interconnectivity of the land, oceans and outer space.

The group initially hoped to build the facility at a parking lot at Hampton Beach State Park, but prospects for that option look grim. The problem, according to Kent, is that George Bald, commissioner of the N.H. Department of Resources and Economic Development, does not support the idea of locating the center at Hampton Beach and refused to sign off on a study for the project’s master plan. 

“For whatever reason, he just did not want to OK the master plan study,” Kent said. “We never knew from Commissioner Bald what his objections were to our locating at the park.

That was one of the frustrations is that that was just never articulated at any of the meetings that we had. When you don’t know what the objections are, it’s hard to come back with any kind of possible solution.”

Although Kent said most visitation would occur outside the summer months, Bald worries the center would have a significant impact on parking and traffic during the busy summer season.

“I don’t think that you could build this type of facility on this site and not have an impact on day-use activities in the summer,” Bald said.

He also balked at the Friends’ request to lease the property for $1 per year. “It’s a prime piece of property that the state manages there,” he said.

Kent said the project received support from the Hampton Board of Selectmen, the Hampton Beach Area Commission and the Rockingham Planning Commission, as well as several local businesses, residents and state legislators.

“They saw this project as a way for them to really enhance their family-oriented vacation focus and also help them fulfill their other goal, which was to become a year-round destination. They invited us and suggested the state park,” Kent said. “Even the governor expressed support, but it just didn’t work out.”

B.J. “Doc” Noel, president of the Hampton Area Chamber of Commerce, said the Chamber sent a letter to the Friends supporting the “concept” of the center, but said the Chamber would need to hear more details before fully supporting the project. Saying he could not speak for the Chamber’s Board of Directors, Noel declined to comment on potential benefits or drawbacks of locating the center at Hampton Beach.

But Kent said another local community is “very interested” in moving forward with the project. She said she could not reveal the community at this time, but confirmed it is on the Seacoast and is not on state property.

“Our main goal is to get this project built, and it’s unfortunate that it just doesn’t look like it’s going to take place in Hampton. But we are fortunate in that we have another offer and we’re very excited about that,” Kent said. “It’s a completely different feel and vibe and everything else, but we think it’s got a lot of potential.”

The Friends estimate the center would attract between 500,000 and 700,000 visitors per year (many of them would carpool or travel by bus, reducing parking and traffic impacts, supporters stress). They also estimate the facility would create roughly 200 part- and full-time jobs, plus temporary construction jobs during the building phase.

The size and design of the center will depend on the final location. Whereas aquariums were once limited to one story, as the heavy water tanks prevented additional floors, building technology has improved, making multi-story aquariums possible.

“We can build in a narrow space and go up or we can have a broader location and be more spread out,” Kent said.

The designer of the exhibits is Lyons and Zaremba of Boston, who have also worked on large aquariums in Baltimore and Monterey Bay. Kent said the exhibits would reflect a modern educational approach, focusing not on individual plant and fish species but on a broader picture of the planet’s interconnected ecosystems.

“Science today is being taught in a much more holistic fashion than it used to be,” she said.

The estimated cost of the project is $17 million to $23 million. Once the group has determined a final location, it will take at least a year to finish raising money for the master plan study. It will then take about three years to work on the capital campaign, Kent said, plus another two years for actual construction, giving the entire project a timeframe of at least six years.

Kent hopes to be able to reveal the center’s new potential location by the fall. For more information, visit www.earthseaspacemuseum.org.