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A $300 million Schlitterbahn Waterpark Resort, Hotel & Retail Shops
 Planned Near the Kansas Speedway in Wyandotte County

By Rick Alm, The Kansas City Star, Mo.
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Sep. 16, 2005 -- Two competitors are welcoming the proposed Schlitterbahn Vacation Village and waterpark to the Kansas City market.

In interviews Thursday, officials at Oceans of Fun and Great Wolf Lodge said the ambitious $300 million waterpark resort, hotel and retail shops planned for 300 acres just east of Interstate 435 and Kansas Speedway in Wyandotte County would add to the region's rapidly growing tourism and draw more business for everyone.

"Village West has exceeded everyone's expectations," said Great Wolf Lodge general manager Russell J. Archuleta of the retail and entertainment district that has sprung up around the motor sports track, including his northwoods-themed family resort and indoor waterpark.

"There's enough business to go around. This means more opportunities and more jobs. It's going to be fun."

Stacy Frole, director of investor relations for Ohio-based Cedar Fair LP, which owns Oceans of Fun and Worlds of Fun in Kansas City, was more circumspect.

"We usually welcome any form of entertainment in a city that we feel can draw additional tourism. Waterparks are premium products that can only help us, and bring additional revenue to our park."

Frole added: "We'll be watching it."

At a news conference Thursday, Unified Government officials pledged that the project would not take private land involuntarily for the project, nor would be given free public land or city tax breaks.

Public meetings will be held in coming weeks, and "we will get together on a project that works for everyone," said Mayor Joe Reardon.

When finished, the mayor said, the sprawling Texas-based Schlitterbahn will create 3,000 jobs in the community and pay $3 million a year in property taxes.

Reardon did not rule out the use of state STAR bonds for the project, which would recycle sales tax dollars generated by the facility into project costs.

"This will be an engine of economic growth for the entire metropolitan area," Reardon told an estimated 200 citizens attending the news conference at the Wyandotte County Fairgrounds -- much of which would be sold to the Texas developers at market rates and razed for the park.

The land sale and other development issues with the city are still being negotiated. Nothing is a done deal yet.

Jeff Henry, of the New Braunfels, Texas, family that owns privately held Schlitterbahn Waterparks, said he expects negotiations to conclude before the end of the year.

That would launch a three-year design and construction period, with some phased facility openings along the way.

The park would lie between I-435 and 94th Street, and State Avenue and Parallel Parkway. A manmade river and lakes on the property would offer a natural setting for year-round boat ride attractions and other, unspecified year-round entertainment amenities.

Henry would not discuss potential tenants or details about the park's proposed 300,000-square-foot retail component.

But he said it would be "far different" than The Legends shopping mall under construction in Village West. He termed the retail aspect "a groundbreaking, trendsetting retail entertainment destination."

It remains to be seen whether there's room in the Kansas City market for two big waterparks, said Robert G. Routh, leisure industries analyst for Jefferies & Co.

The good news, Routh added, is that the waterpark industry has been growing in recent years in response to public demand.

But "it is unusual" to see two big parks in a market of Kansas City's size, said Routh, who noted he owns Cedar Fair stock.

"It could result in growth for the area," he said. "But there's a risk they could cannibalize each other."

Henry isn't worried. He said his company targeted the Kansas City market for Schlitterbahn's first expansion outside Texas after witnessing the success of Village West.

"We looked at this market," he said. "People come here from far away."

The 60-acre Oceans of Fun "is a pretty small park," he said. The footprint for Schlitterbahn waterpark alone is projected at around 100 acres that would blend into 200 more acres of shopping, a 300-room hotel, cabins and novel tree house lodging units.

Henry said he expects an adult daily ticket to the Kansas park to be priced around $30.

Schlitterbahn is an innovative and award-winning pioneer in the waterpark industry.

It operates three Texas parks, and company officials for years have been engaged in the design of other parks around the world.

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To see more of The Kansas City Star, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.kansascity.com.

Copyright (c) 2005, The Kansas City Star, Mo.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail [email protected].

 
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