July 25–A Wisconsin company that owns and develops family-style resorts has purchased the partially finished Renaissance Hotel on Colorado Springs’ north side, where it’s expected to build an adjacent indoor water park.

Great Wolf Resorts on Friday paid $18 million to buy the 10-story hotel, according to documents filed with the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder’s Office. The shuttered, partially boarded-up hotel on nearly 20 acres east of Interstate 25 and InterQuest Parkway has stood idle since its original developer ran out of money nearly six years ago.

Whether the $18 million represents Great Wolf’s actual investment in the hotel’s purchase isn’t known. It may have partnered with Flintco Inc., the Tulsa, Okla., general contractor that bought the hotel for nearly $29 million at a 2011 foreclosure sale.

Neither Great Wolf nor Flintco officials could be reached for comment Friday.

In February, Great Wolf representatives submitted a proposal to city planners that showed the company would complete the Renaissance with 311 rooms and construct an adjacent indoor water park. The water park would take the place of a conference center initially proposed at the hotel.

Great Wolf’s website describes the company as “North America’s largest family of indoor water park resorts,” while showing it has a dozen indoor water park complexes in the U.S. and Canada. The Springs complex would be called the Great Wolf Lodge at InterQuest Marketplace, according to the proposal.

“The company’s resorts are family-oriented destination facilities that generally feature 300-600 rooms and a large indoor entertainment area” between 40,000 and 100,000-square-feet, according to Great Wolf’s website. “The all-suite properties offer a variety of room styles, arcade/game rooms, fitness rooms, themed restaurants, spas, supervised children’s activities and other amenities.”

The project will have a double-barreled effect on the area, real estate experts predict.

Completion of the Renaissance will clean up an eyesore that’s been visible to thousands of motorists daily, they said. At the same time, the hotel and water park will become a major attraction — spurring the development of more stores, restaurants and other commercial uses in a fast-growing part of the city.

“Everybody in the city has wanted to see the completion of what is a major hotel property,” said Fred Veitch, a vice president with Nor’wood Development Group of Colorado Springs.

The Renaissance is part of Nor’wood’s InterQuest Marketplace, a 900,000-square-foot retail center that’s home to restaurants, a 14-screen movie theater complex, a Brunswick Zone XL entertainment center and the recently opened 180-room Drury Inn & Suites. A 250- to 300-unit apartment complex also is planned at InterQuest Marketplace.

“Great Wolf has a reputation of being the very best water park operator in the United States,” Veitch said. “Having them in the community is going to be big for both the community at large and specifically for the project. They do a high-quality job. They’ll add a great ingredient to the tenants who a re already there.”

Mark Useman, a broker with Colorado Springs Commercial who’s marketing the nearby 25-acre InterQuest Commons retail center, said residents and tourists will generate demand for sit-down, fast-food and fast-causal restaurants, along with stores and services.

“It’s a whole new attraction to Colorado Springs,” Useman said. “We don’t have that kind of thing here.”

But will Great Wolf’s entry into the Springs market change the plans of a developer who already proposed a hotel and water park project?

Gary Erickson, who’s developing the 200-acre Polaris Pointe retail complex east of I-25 and North Gate Boulevard — home to Bass Pro Shops, Magnum Shooting Center, restaurants and stores — couldn’t be reached for comment Friday.

When Great Wolf submitted its plans to the city in February, Erickson said there would be room for both projects. Many areas — such as the Wisconsin Dells — have multiple water parks, he said, adding he had no plans to scrap his hotel and indoor water park.

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