By DEAN WELLS dwells@timesobserver.com December 19, 2008 An expert in aquarium tourism development thinks Warren County’s Musarium project is “do-able,” but probably not in “one fell swoop.” Lynn Clements, director of the Virginia Aquarium and Science Center, met with local officials Thursday afternoon to discuss the ongoing effort to bring a $100 million aquarium-museum facility to the county. Clements, who has been involved with the the Virginia Aquarium and Science Center since its development in 1986, told officials she met with the Allegheny Musarium Association development team earlier this week and discussed breaking up the ambitious project into phases in lieu of completing it all at once. A similar approach was used to develop Virginia Beach’s facilities. “What you’re considering is do-able, but probably not all in one fell swoop,” Clements said. “The economic impact study says it’s do-able. The company that did it is a national firm and they said it was do-able.” Clements said the musarium development team was open to breaking up the project into phases. “And maybe in 20 years, they will have the full magilla they have on the drawing board. The bottom line is they are going to adjust their mission and look at the project on smaller terms – but still have that great goal out there.” Using the Virginia aquarium as an example, Clements said her organization raised money in segments: over $2 million, followed by over $5 million, then the latest fundraiser of over $12 million. The facility started with a building of 40,000 square feet in 1986, which drew 325,000 visitors. Ten years later, the aquarium tripled in size, including restaurants, an IMAX theater, a second building and a nature trail, drawing an average of 650,000 people. Clements said the aquarium expects to draw 750,000 people a year once its latest renovations are completed. Within the next decade, there are plans to construct another building with the goal of drawing 1 million visitors on a yearly basis. “I can’t go to a million visitors until we add another building,” Clements said. “I’ve got big plans for the next 10 years, but financially I can’t do it all at one time.” Clements said the musarium’s development team is in a similar financial situation. “They realize in an economy like we have now, (raising $100 million) is probably not achievable,” she said. Clements said by breaking up the musarium project into phases, officials can keep donors interested with the continual promises of better things on the way. “You can tell them they are going to get a return for their investment, there are big plans for the future.”