With some traditional retailers looking for the exit doors at shopping malls across the country or vanishing completely, malls can be forced to evolve or die.

Change has become the norm at Chapel Hills Mall, on Colorado Springs’ north side. One of its anchor stores, Kmart, closed in 2009, making way for an AMC movie theater complex that is still there. The Sears was demolished to make way for a 300-unit apartment complex.

Other stores have come and gone since the mall opened in 1982. But now, buoyed by an indoor pickleball facility and glow-in-the-dark minigolf, while still anchored by the likes of Dick’s Sporting Goods and Macy’s, the mall offers experiences in addition to merchandise.

Jon Hepworth is looking to add one more experience.

He is the co-founder of Jungle Reef, a company that adapts old mall spaces into interactive aquariums. Hepworth has been in the aquarium business with his brothers since about 2016 and they opened Jungle Reef’s first location at a mall in El Paso, Texas, two years ago. This will be the second Jungle Reef.

Visitors will be able to pet stingrays in a large pool, see “exotic reptiles” up close and view sharks and other sea creatures in enormous saltwater tanks from inches away. Additionally, there will be a bird room where birds can freely fly about and be fed by guests, according to the website.

“(The mall is) a great space, it has great parking, it’s a great location,” Hepworth said. “It just needs an attraction or destination for people to give foot traffic back to Chapel Hills. Malls live and die on foot traffic.”

The original plan was to open last year, but several factors caused delays. Hepworth is now looking at a March opening, though no concrete date has been set.

“Colorado requires additional review processes through Colorado Parks & Wildlife that were not structured the same way in El Paso,” he said. “That includes species review, facility inspections, and documentation specific to regulated wildlife and import considerations.”

Colorado Parks and Wildlife does not comment on pending requests, said Special Wildlife License Administrator Erik Slater. But the organization was able to provide details on some of the specific items a company like Jungle Reef needs before it can open.

Generally, CPW responds to applications within 30 days, Slater said. The remainder of the timeline depends on the facility: construction status, the type of animals being brought in and the number of animals being brought in. Once an inspection is done and all requirements are met, a license is issued and the facility can start to bring in animals.

“Review of an application includes considerations for human safety, wildlife being held humanely, proper caging/conditions, prior violations, and more,” Slater said. “Generally CPW considers overall health and welfare of wildlife and public safety at the core of our process.”

Hepworth said he wanted to be thorough with the Colorado Springs location. Additionally, he said he ran into “typical supply chain timing issues” for construction equipment and supplies. The aquarium needs specialty items like filtration devices and life support systems, which added even more time to the process, he said.

Colorado Springs’ family dynamic and overall demographic picture made it attractive for Jungle Reef, Hepworth said. He envisions the aquarium as being more than a tourist and family destination, though. Rather, he wants to use it as an educational place where kids and their parents learn about the animals within.

Other companies, like Seaquest, which had a location in Littleton, have tried to capture the “modest” aquarium scene, with limited success. Seaquest was an interactive aquarium that in roughly six years gathered a long list of citations and reported injuries to animals and guests, according to published reports from news outlets and inspections from USDA.

It closed in 2024, according to Denver and national news outlets. But Jungle Reef is different, Hepworth said.

“We handle all of our husbandry here, hands on and we make sure that all of our animals are happy and healthy,” he said.

At the El Paso Jungle Reef, problems emerged about eight months after opening. Local news reported that conditions inside the aquarium were not good for employees, animals and visitors. A young boy was scratched by a wallaby and employees began sharing stories about dangerous conditions, according to El Paso Matters, an independent news organization in the city. The wallaby, named Jupiter, died the same day; Jungle Reef said that was due to employee negligence and resulted in more training.

Hepworth said the issues have since been ironed out.

“Anybody that has concerns about when we first opened El Paso, look at it now,” he said. “Go through the reviews now, look at where we’re at with compliance now, it’s a night and day difference.”

The latest inspection report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, issued in December, shows Jungle Reef in El Paso passed an inspection with no “non-compliant” items, according to a local news outlet.

Hepworth also said he is giving animals inside a second chance at life. Rather than finding healthy animals from the ocean and transporting them to a landlocked state, Jungle Reef takes in animals that were once injured and have been rehabilitated, he said.

The company works with groups including Turtle & Tortoise Rescue of Arroyo Grande, Ariz., Reptile & Rescue, Sea Dwelling Creatures and Segrest Farms among others, Hepworth said.

“We do events for educational purposes (but) it’s mostly just about rehabilitating the animals,” Hepworth said. “These are animals that are not doing good; we’re giving them a second chance.”

The new aquarium is adapting just over 30,000 square feet of space that once housed a JCPenney’s and later,a Gordmans. The Gordman’s shut down in 2020, following the brand’s bankruptcy filing.

Tickets will cost $19 for adults and $15 for kids, Hepworth said, adding he wanted to keep things right around the cost of a movie. More information on the new attraction can be found online at www.junglereef.co/.