New York Aquarium's Sea Cliffs exhibit gets $2.5 million for new windows, habitats and shade

The Sea Cliffs exhibit at the New York Aquarium in Coney Island, the outdoor rocky coastline where sea otters, seals and penguins live, is getting $2.5 million in city money to fix what decades of salt air and Superstorm Sandy left behind, Brooklyn Paper reported.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani authorized $2 million for the aquarium, which is run by the Wildlife Conservation Society, according to Council Member Kayla Santosuosso, who said she had already secured another $500,000 from her own budget allocation. The two announced the money on Oct. 26 standing next to Pickles, one of the exhibit's seals.

What will change

According to the mayor's office, as reported by Brooklyn Paper, the work covers three areas: the animals' habitats and holding spaces, the mechanical life-support systems, and shade.

• Viewing windows: all 15 original windows will be replaced. They have turned brittle from age and sun, and failing seals have caused significant leaks into visitor walkways.
• Rockwork: the artificial concrete rock around the animal pools, worn down after 37 years in a marine environment, will be restored.
• Cooling: two chilled-water systems that serve the aquarium's lower-level jewel tanks and the penguin exhibit will be improved.
• Back-of-house space: holding areas for penguins and sea otters will be expanded and renovated to meet animal care guidelines.
• Shade: new shading at three spots in the exhibit is meant to protect the animals' eyes, reduce algae growth in warm weather and improve water quality.

Christopher Durosinmi, the society's director of government and community affairs, told Brooklyn Paper the money would pay for "much-needed upgrades" that improve animal welfare, staff safety and the visitor experience.

Still recovering from Sandy

The aquarium flooded during Sandy in October 2012, and Sea Cliffs has needed repairs ever since. "It's just still always kind of in recovery," Santosuosso told Brooklyn Paper. She took office this year and called the aquarium one of her favorite places.

The new money sits inside a bigger, older project. Secret NYC reported that the city's capital strategy sets aside more than $23 million for Sea Cliffs construction, and that the project's scope was first developed in August 2015, with substantial completion targeted for June 2027 and final closeout for September 2027. Brooklyn Paper described the $2 million as part of a broader investment of more than $34 million in the aquarium. Neither outlet reported a construction calendar or any planned closures.

Founded in 1896 at Castle Garden in Lower Manhattan, the New York Aquarium is the oldest continually operating aquarium in the country and has been on the Coney Island boardwalk since 1957, Secret NYC noted.