McMahon unveils Harborview Aquarium name, sponsors as opening nears

Before the first of more than 13,000 fish moves into 600,000 gallons of water in Syracuse’s Inner Harbor, Onondaga County has given its long-promised aquarium a name and a fresh round of sponsors. County Executive J. Ryan McMahon said the project will be called Harborview Aquarium, and also identified the Allyn Foundation, the William and Mary Thorpe Charitable Fund and Amazon as current sponsors.

McMahon made the announcement at Syracuse Academy of Science, where he said the name came from a contest that drew local schoolchildren into the project’s branding. The winning submission came from Jennifer Coffey, who was inspired by her daughters, Cailin Coffey, 5, and Riley Coffey, 6, after a drive near the Inner Harbor. McMahon also said a naming sponsor will eventually be added to the aquarium’s name, in the same way the Lakeview Amphitheater carries a corporate title.

The unveiling added a new layer of polish to a project that has been controversial since county lawmakers approved it in 2022. Construction was about 66% complete in March, county officials said, and the facility is still expected to open around August or Labor Day in September 2026. The price has climbed sharply from an original estimate of $85 million to $103.8 million, a jump that invites the same question now as it did when the project was first sold to the public: what, exactly, will residents get for the money?

That question has only sharpened as Democrats on the County Legislature accuse McMahon’s administration of shielding private donors and not telling them about a $5.7 million transfer from the county-affiliated Greater Syracuse Sound Stage Development Corporation to the Friends of the Aquarium. McMahon has argued that anonymous giving is lawful and that donor privacy is a right. Democratic lawmakers are drafting legislation that would require approval or reporting for donations over $10,000, a sign that the financing fight around the aquarium is not over even as the opening nears.

County leaders say the aquarium could become more than a tourist stop. It is expected to employ roughly 50 to 100 people and could help draw film and television production to Syracuse because it is eligible for New York’s state film tax credit. That is the broader test now facing Harborview Aquarium, whether it becomes the attraction county leaders promised, or remains a costly project defined more by unveilings than by measurable results on attendance, education and revenue.