New marine research center in the works

Deerfield buys Intracoastal site

Deerfield Beach is looking to reel in tourists and scientists with its newest venture — an ecological research center on the Intracoastal Waterway.

The city wants to create a facility where scientists and visitors can observe nearby wildlife and sea life. While the details are being worked out, the location is locked in.

The city this month agreed to buy the Chamber of Commerce building at 1601 E. Hillsboro Blvd, just west of the Hillsboro Boulevard bridge, for $550,000. Its location near key habitats for marine life makes it ideal, said Kris Mory, director of the city’s redevelopment agency.

“Right across the water, Deerfield Island, is home to endangered gopher tortoise – that might be an area of research,” she said. “We also get manatees around here.’’

The city also hopes to make the experience family friendly.

“We want to introduce a marine research component that may include some

interactive experience for children and families,” Mory said.

The Deerfield Chamber of Commerce will rent back the building for one year before it is expected to be torn down. The rebuilding will likely take a few years.

But the effort makes perfect sense to city leaders.

“We market ourselves as a nautical destination,” said Commissioner Todd Drosky. “This is an opportunity to capitalize on that.”

The center could become a base for researchers to monitor the surrounding ecosystem, like they do at Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach.

Or it could be a center for education, like the South Florida Science Center and Aquarium in West Palm Beach and the Miami Seaquarium.

Or it could be like the city-sponsored Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton, where injured sea turtles come for rehab and university researchers monitor sea turtle nests on local beaches.

Gumbo Limbo opened in the 1970s as a seaside center for researchers from Florida Atlantic University and for school field trips. Last year, it attracted some 204,114 visitors, the most since its opening.

Michele Kurucz Peel, president of the Friends of Gumbo Limbo board of trustees, said interest spiked once the center opened its sea turtle rehab center. There, sea turtles who have suffered boat strikes and ingested deadly pollutants are cared for by rehab experts and visiting veterinarians.

“People could see the effect of mankind on their environment in a very personal way,” Kurucz Peel said.

Plans are underway for some sort of expansion because “now we’re busting at the seams,” Peel said.

Deerfield officials have already met with members of the Gumbo Limbo staff to explore a possible partnership with them.

The city also plans to approach local universities, such as Nova Southeastern University and FAU, about joining the effort, since both institutions have departments that take advantage of the area’s natural surroundings.

Mory said the city might also ask national organizations to offer proposals for what they would do with an eco center.

“There’s a lot of potential for us to do something very interesting with that facility,” Mayor Bill Ganz said.