Oct. 25–City officials are proposing a multimillion-dollar package of tax subsidies, cash grants, and a huge land trade with El Paso businessman Paul Foster to get Great Wolf Resorts to build an indoor water park/hotel/convention center resort complex in West El Paso.
The incentives package, land trade, and other items tied to the proposedare scheduled to go before the City Council on Tuesday for a vote. Great Wolf executives are to make a presentation at the meeting.
The Wisconsin-based company bills itself as North America's largest chain of indoor water park resorts. It has 16 locations in the United States, and one in Canada. It has two in the works, including one under construction in Scottsdale, Arizona. It only has one Texas location — in Grapevine, a Dallas suburb.
The proposed resort complex, with an estimated construction cost of $160 million, would have at least 350 hotel rooms, about 10,000 square feet of convention space, and an indoor water park, city officials reported.
It would be located on 44 acres of land located at Interstate 10 and Paseo del Norte (Artcraft Road), across the street from the new West Towne Marketplace shopping center.
Great Wolf would get 18 months for decision
The proposed economic development agreement with the company would give Great Wolf up to 18 months of "due diligence" to allow it to secure project financing and confirm that the project is economically feasible, said Jessica Herrera, director of the city Economic and International Development Department.
City officials have been working for almost four years to get Great Wolf to build a resort complex in El Paso, she said.
Great Wolf Lodge would be a "major economic impact with a visitor draw of more than 500,000 people per year," Herrera said. This would make El Paso more of a destination for tourists, she said.
"It supports our business recruitment, retention, expansion efforts" because it would attract other developments and help shopping centers located near the resort, she said.
Great Wolf will complement the Downtown convention center, hotels in Downtown and other areas of the city, and will help draw family-focused conventions, Herrera said.
2,000-plus city acres would go to Paul Foster
City officials are proposing that the city trade 2,313 acres of city-owned land surrounding Painted Dunes golf course in Northeast El Paso for the 44 acres, owned by a Foster company.
Foster is asking $18.6 million for the West Side land. The city's acreage has been valued at about $8,000 per acre, or $18.5 million, Herrera said.
Independent appraisals have confirmed the sale values of Foster's land and the Northeast land now owned by the El Paso Public Service Board, which operates El Paso Water, she said. The PSB has agreed to transfer the land to city ownership for the proposed project, she said.
The Northeast land is part of 4,833 acres that was to be developed into a master- planned housing community 10 years ago by Hunt Communities, an El Paso-based real estate development and management group. Hunt canceled the proposed deal with the PSB in 2008 because the company couldn't get financing to buy the land.
Foster has verbally agreed to enter into a land-development plan with the city on the 2,313 acres if the property trade is approved by the City Council, Herrera said. However, no written land-development plan is part of the proposed land trade, she said.
Other city sites looked at by Great Wolf officials
Great Wolf officials looked at various sites all over El Paso for the resort complex, Herrera said.
A city airport-owned site at Butterfield Trail golf course, where airport officials for years have been trying to lure a resort hotel, and the old Cohen baseball stadium were among sites considered by Great Wolf officials, Herrera said.
Great Wolf officials chose the 44-acre site at Interstate 10 and Paseo del Norte because of its proximity to Franklin Mountains State Park and to the Santa Teresa port of entry at the U.S.-Mexico border. Great Wolf wants to tap into the Mexican market, Herrera said.
City, state tax rebates part of incentives
The total amount of tax subsidies and other incentives is not yet known. A big chunk of it will be tied to getting the Texas comptroller to approve providing state sales tax rebates and state hotel tax rebates to Great Wolf Lodge for 10 years.
The project would be eligible for state tax rebates under the state Convention Center and Hotel Program because the proposed resort would be on city-owned land and would include a convention center, Herrera said.
State sales tax rebates would not only include sales taxes collected at the Great Wolf Lodge, but also from a 1,000-foot area around the resort complex, which would include sales taxes generated from part of the new West Towne Marketplace, including the new Walmart Supercenter, said Israel Irrobali, marketing and communications coordinator for the city economic development department.
Besides the $18.6 million in land that Great Wolf would own in 10 years, the company would also get $5 million in grants from a special El Paso Water Utility fund provided in increments as work is completed on the resort complex, Irrobali said. The city also would provide $520,000 for road improvements.
The city also would provide property tax rebates, city hotel tax rebates, and city sales tax rebates over 15 years that likely would provide millions of dollars to Great Wolf as long as it meets construction and jobs requirements, city officials said.
The proposed complex would create an estimated 1,190 jobs during construction, and at least 385 jobs at the resort complex, according to city data.
Vic Kolenc may be reached at 546-6421; vkolenc@elpasotimes.com; @vickolenc on Twitter.
