Plans for a new US$68m (€60.5m, £44.8m) aquarium in downtown Clearwater, Florida, have fallen through after Clearwater Marine Aquarium officials decided not to move due to timeframe concerns.

The original plans would have seen the aquarium relocate into a significantly larger facility overlooking Clearwater Harbor. The aquarium is now instead planning to expanding and upgrade its older quarters closer to the city centre.

In order to move, aquarium officials needed to raise around US$28m (€25m, £18.4m) in private donations. While the aquarium was confident in raising these funds in the required timeframe, uncertainty about how long the project would take to be realised led to the change of heart.

"It became very clear to us that the entire project was going to take longer than we originally estimated," said Clearwater Marine Aquarium CEO, David Yates, speaking to The Tampa Bay Times. "We want to do something sooner rather than later. We've got dolphins and guests that need more space. If we pull back and do an expansion on Island Estates, we can do it in less time."

Clearwater officials had originally envisaged the new aquarium as the centrepiece of a revitalisation to the downtown area. The 200,000sq ft (18,580sq m) aquarium development would have accommodated larger crowds, drawn in-part by the 2011 movie Dolphin Tale, which is based on the aquarium’s dolphin Winter, who has a prosthetic tail.

The aquarium is now working up new plans for the expansion. Funding for the work would come from donors, corporate support and government grants. It is unknown at this point when the new plans will be unveiled or the time frame for the development, though the original plan would have seen work completed by April 2017.

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