The future aquarium planned for Port Canaveral that would be a sister attraction to the Brevard Zoo has been named after a husband and wife whose initial $1 million donation helped anchor the project that has been years in the making.

What will become the Bowen Aquarium and Conservation Center is honoring John and Pat Bowen of Satellite Beach. They have since donated millions more to the nonprofit East Coast Zoological Foundation in its efforts to complete the project to be located just south of State Road 528 on Port Canaveral property adjacent to the Banana River.

“They are the founding donors who put this project into motion, a regional project that’s going to make a difference for all of Central Florida,” said foundation CEO Keith Winsten in a press release Monday. “By naming the aquarium after them, we are able to truly celebrate their generosity, their legacy and who they are, which we feel represents the best of mankind.”

The foundation runs the Brevard Zoo and has been working on plans to build a sister attraction aquarium since before 2018 when it secured a promise of financial support from the county’s tourist development tax. But the majority of funding was always going to rely on donations.

The Bowens’ initial $1 million donation helped counter the loss of expected funds that had been killed from the state of Florida budget early on in the project’s inception. The foundation said the Bowens wrote the first check to the “Our Legacy Campaign” fund set up to support both the aquarium and the zoo.

The price tag for the aquarium plans has grown from a projected $70 million in 2018 to $85 million when Port Canaveral officials finally approved a lease in 2021. Its final price tag could be higher.

First construction isn’t planned until 2025 and an opening 2-3 years later. The foundation’s initial target open date had been 2022, but fundraising hurdles and the pandemic have continually stretched that timeline.

The foundation stated it had reached 86% toward its fundraising goals so far with the fund.

The release said the Bowens became members of zoo foundation after their first visit years ago. The zoo, which opened in 1994 is located just off Interstate 95 in Melbourne, about 15 miles south of Port Canaveral.

“We just love the zoo. I call it — it’s an arboretum with animals. I mean it’s beautiful,” said John Bowen in a video on the foundation’s website. “You couldn’t go to some other place where there’s just trees and flowers that’s any prettier than the zoo property. But they have all these wonderful animals. We just love nature in every sense of the word.”

The chance to help the zoo pursue the aquarium was a way for the couple to say thank you to Brevard County, he said.

The plans prsented to the port in 2021 were to build out the first 14 acres of a 26-acre parcel that would include a sea turtle rehabilitation center, fish camp restaurant and an outdoor adventure walkway through the water where visitors can see otters and alligators. Since that presentation, a manatee rehab facility has been added to the design.

The attraction aims to focus on native Florida wildlife and serve as a regional conservation hub that focused on restoring the Indian River Lagoon.

The foundation said it expects 525,000 visitors a year when fully operational. The port had approved $3.5 million in infrastructure support for the aquarium when approving the initial 31-year lease.

The site is part outdoors and part indoors, will have water play areas as well as gathering space for special events such as rocket launches.

Located right on the lagoon, the water frontage will feature boardwalks, and renderings show a potential kayak launch adjacent to the property that would be run by outside vendors.

As an environmental group, the aquarium’s goal is to also raise funds for the Indian River Lagoon, with $1 of each admission going to the National Estuary Program’s lagoon restoration.

“I have confidence just like I do in all the people at the zoo that they’re going to be doing the conservation and there’s so many other things of that nature — the healing of animals — and all these things add up to a wonderful, wonderful gift,” Bowen said.