Downtown Aquarium Denver opened its doors on June 21, 1999, as Colorado’s Ocean Journey, a nonprofit aquarium built by Bill Fleming and Judy Petersen Fleming at a cost of about $93 million. Sited on 17 acres beside the South Platte River near the I-25 and 23rd Avenue interchange, the 107,000-square-foot facility was designed to trace water’s journey from the Colorado Rockies to the ocean, guiding visitors from freshwater rivers through to marine environments.
Financial struggles following the September 11, 2001 attacks led the nonprofit into bankruptcy, and in March 2003 Landry’s Restaurants, Inc. acquired the aquarium for $13.6 million after a bidding war with Ripley’s Entertainment. It reopened on July 14, 2005 as Downtown Aquarium, with new additions including a full-service restaurant, bar, ballroom, and a 50,000-gallon centerpiece tank built right into the dining room.
Stats at a Glance
- Location: Denver, Colorado
- Opened: June 21, 1999 (as Colorado’s Ocean Journey)
- Renamed/Reopened: July 14, 2005 (as Downtown Aquarium)
- Size: 107,000 sq ft on a 17-acre site
- Tank volume: about 1,000,000 US gallons total, including a 50,000-gallon dining-room centerpiece tank
- Species/animal count: around 500 species, about 5,000 animals
- Famous for: dining beside a 50,000-gallon marine aquarium and its Sumatran tiger exhibit
From Ocean Journey to Downtown Aquarium
The aquarium’s original concept walked guests through Colorado’s own watershed before opening into saltwater exhibits representing oceans around the world, an ambitious layout that set it apart from typical aquariums built around a single big tank. That ambition came with a heavy price tag, and when post-9/11 tourism dropped, attendance never caught up to the debt load, pushing the nonprofit into bankruptcy within a few years of opening.
Landry’s Restaurants took over in 2003 and reopened the venue in 2005 with a sharper focus on dining and entertainment alongside the animal exhibits, folding in a restaurant, bar, and event ballroom built around a 50,000-gallon tank stocked with more than 100 species of tropical fish, so diners eat within view of the fish from every table.
Exhibits and Conservation
Visitors move through habitats modeled on the Colorado River and Indonesia’s Kampar River before reaching ocean-themed galleries, with interactive touch tanks for horseshoe crabs and stingrays along the way. The facility is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and participates in the Species Survival Plan for Sumatran tigers, one of the rarest tiger subspecies in the world, housing tigers in a habitat built into the aquarium complex.
Explore more: More zoos and aquariums.
Downtown Aquarium Denver FAQs
Was the Downtown Aquarium always called that?
No. It opened in 1999 as Colorado’s Ocean Journey, a nonprofit venture, before Landry’s Restaurants bought it in 2003 and reopened it as Downtown Aquarium in 2005.
How many animals live at Downtown Aquarium Denver?
The aquarium is home to roughly 5,000 animals representing about 500 species, held across tanks totaling around 1,000,000 US gallons.
Can you eat at Downtown Aquarium?
Yes. The 2005 renovation added a full-service restaurant and bar built around a 50,000-gallon centerpiece aquarium stocked with tropical fish, so guests dine surrounded by marine life.
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Photo: Ginkgo100 at English Wikipedia / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.