INDY ZOO EXPANDS

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INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — The Indianapolis Zoo revealed a $53 million expansion proposal for its entrance downtown in White River State Park on Thursday night.

A new zoo entrance and Welcome Center will be built as part of the project. Visitors will enter the zoo through the White River Gardens, an enclosed botanical garden, and the new Global Center for Species Survival after the project is done. According to a zoo press release, the new entrance should be open by Memorial Day weekend.

The initiative also includes “a unique view of the chimpanzees as the apes travel across the Zoo’s campus to multiple locations of their choice,” according to the press release. The chimp facility is scheduled to open after Memorial Day weekend in 2024.

During a Thursday night ceremony in the Indiana State Museum’s IMAX Theater, Rob Shumaker, the facility’s president and chief executive officer, and zoo board members unveiled the endeavor and showed what would be the International Chimpanzee Complex.

The zoo claims to have funded 60% of its campaign target for the project so far.