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Ripley’s Aquarium planning expansion with new penguin exhibit

What’s already known as one of the top attractions in Myrtle Beach, Ripley’s Aquarium, will soon get even cooler if the facility receives the go-ahead for an expansion project planned for the 2015 season.

Management recently announced plans to expand the 85,000 square foot Broadway at the Beach attraction by about 6,000 square feet, adding in a brand-new penguin exhibit in the process.

Aquarium officials have stated that they’d like to begin work on the project in September with hopes of having the new penguin exhibit open in June 2015, however plans must still first be approved by Broadway at the Beach owners, Burroughs & Chapin, as well as Myrtle Beach’s Community Appearance Board.

This would be the first expansion project in the aquarium’s 17-year history. When complete it will include new restrooms, gift shop and admission booth facilities as well as the penguin exhibit.

Though details have yet to be announced about the exhibit itself, it stands to reason that visitors can expect it to be similar in style to the Penguin Playhouse currently open at the aquarium’s sister attraction, Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies in Gatlinburg, Tenn.

The Smokies’ penguin exhibit, which opened in 2010, offers visitors a chance to get up close and personal with African Black-Footed Penguins and view them from above and below the water.

Though it will still be awhile before visitors to the Grand Strand can see these beautiful birds in action, there’s plenty of other sealife to experience here.

Ripley’s Aquarium Myrtle Beach features hundreds of species of fish, sharks, stingrays and many other creatures across a variety of underwater habitats including this season’s latest exhibit “SWARM.” The aquarium was recently named one of the top 12 in the U.S. by Destination Travel Magazine.