March 18, 2011--Albuquerque may once again be without a water park.

The Radisson Hotel & Water Park near Interstate 40 and Carlisle NE may close come May 8, general manager Colin Ankersen told the Journal on Thursday.

Last week, in accordance with the state's Workers Adjustment and Re-training Notification Act, or WARN, management informed the property's 175 employees -- 120 of them full-time -- that the closure was a possibility, Ankersen said. By state law, an employer has to give employees a 60-day advance notice of possible mass layoffs.

Ankersen said that means owners APHM Carlisle LLC have just less than two months to find a way to keep operating.

"We can't continue until we find a new investor," he said. The owners of the 314-room Radisson Hotel at 2500 Carlisle NE, which opened an $18.3 million, 30, 000-square-foot indoor water park on the hotel property just a year ago, had been in the process of renegotiating the company's loan with its lender, Sorenson Management Services, when those talks "broke down 10 days ago unsuccessfully," Ankersen said.

The debt owed includes both the hotel and water park, he said, but the water park "is obviously a sizeable portion" of that.

He did not have details on the amount of the loan, but some type of restructuring deal must be struck by May 8 or the hotel may close.

"We don't have to close that day if there's a solution to moving on," he said.

He said there are a few serious buyers interested, including a local hotelier, none of whom he would name.

Opened in 1971 as the Four Seasons Motor Inn, the hotel converted to the Radisson brand in late 2007 after a $20 million remodel. The property opened the water park last March.

The hotel and water park have seen increasing revenues since the park opened, Ankersen said.

Both are "kind of connected at the hip. The water park drives a lot of business into the hotel. We are still trying to increase business at the hotel," he said.

Ankersen declined to give detailed occupancy numbers.

The water park, which is open weekends and holidays, has seen its weekends sold out since the beginning of the year. The park, open this entire week because of spring break, has been booked and is booked this weekend, he said. That means every hotel room at the property is occupied and 90 percent of rooms at the hotel have purchased water park packages, he said.

Ankersen said 2011 revenues are on track to exceed 2010 revenues, but declined to provide specifics.

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