Nearly a decade after a beloved community aquarium was destroyed by Hurricane Harvey in 2017, the facility is set to be rebuilt.
Aransas County and Rockport city leaders green-lit the reconstruction during meetings last month, and new filings with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) show the project is now moving forward. The nearly $2.2 million project is slated to begin construction in mid-October, and will include a “pre-engineered metal building,” a service area, office, restrooms, “mechanical mezzanine” and a deck and access ramp, TDLR records show. The reconstruction is expected to be completed by the end of April 2027, though timelines listed in TDLR records are subject to change.
Aransas County officials have been working on the project for more than a year, according to Elle Moralez, who delivered presentations to the Aransas County Commissioners’ Court and the Rockport City Council on July 13 and 14. Moralez confirmed that construction is expected to begin this fall and take about six months.
“Starting most likely October — we have to wait until Labor Day — and then hopefully be done by April so that we’re ready for summer,” Moralez told officials at the county meeting.
The Aquarium at Rockport was destroyed when Hurricane Harvey made landfall near the tiny coastal community as a Category 4 hurricane on August 25, 2017. The hurricane made landfall just east of Rockport at about 10 p.m. that night with wind gusts as high as 145 mph, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). While the cyclone caused catastrophic damage across a wide swath of the Texas coastline from Corpus Christi to Houston, Rockport and Fulton bore the initial brunt of the damage as “they took a direct hit from Harvey’s eyewall,” the NWS said.
“Roofs were blown off and walls collapsed. Electricity and water services were lost. The city’s infrastructure was crippled,” reads a history of the storm published by the NWS.
Among the structures destroyed was the Aquarium at Rockport Harbor, 706 Navigation Circle, Rockport, TX 78382. Hurricane Harvey ultimately became one of the most catastrophic hurricanes to strike Texas, causing tens of billions in damages. In less than two days, the storm rapidly intensified from a tropical depression to a Category 3 storm with a forecast track aimed right at Rockport. That prompted aquarium officials to release many of its aquatic animals into Rockport Bay, though a beloved 5-foot-long honeycomb moray eel named Marley was relocated to the Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Christi, according to Texas Hill Country. However, aquarium officials told MySA that, due to his age and the stress that another relocation could cause, Marley will remain at the Texas State Aquarium.