A long-time tourism attraction on the Central Oregon Coast will soon be removed from its perch on the Historic Newport Bayfront and dismantled. Undersea Gardens, when it was opened in the ‘60s, was billed as “112 windows under the sea,” and has been a mainstay next to Port Dock 1. However, the Hatfield Marine Science Center across Yaquina Bay on South Beach always offered similar but free exhibits, and when the Oregon Coast Aquarium opened next to the HMSC, it put more stress on the Bayfront’s tourism attraction. Oregon Coast Aquarium has continued to grow in popularity, and now, the Oregon Museum of Science & Industry (OMSI) is also building an attraction in the area of the Oregon Coast Aquarium and HMSC. The Undersea Gardens facility will be taken off its 17 pilings and towed away. A new 4,000-square foot cold storage building will be erected at the site to serve commercial fishing boats.
