The Great Wolf hotel and waterpark chain is planning to expand its operations by opening a new location in LaGrange, Georgia.
Great Wolf Resorts, which owns and operates 14 locations across the US, wants to build an indoor waterpark with an adjacent 400-bedroom hotel and conference centre. If successful, the proposal would rely heavily on tax-relief concessions, subject to approval from both local and state government.
A US$17m (€15m, £11m) taxpayer-backed bond issue would fund the conference centre, which would be owned by the city of LaGrange and leased back to Great Wolf Resorts on a 50-year agreement. A US$170m (€150m, £110m) bond issue for the resort and hotel was approved last week.
If the development gains full approval, the waterpark and resort will be open by Q3 2017, creating 400 jobs in the process.
According to Tom Hall, city manager, the resort would attract 500,000 people to LaGrange each year, with the potential addition of a major shopping centre to be opened near to the resort.
