Great Wolf Lodge held a groundbreaking July 14 for a new 500-suite, $250 million resort and indoor water park in East Naples, Fla., the company's first in the Sunshine State and 21st in North America.

The resort's construction is ramping up on 20 acres at 3940 City Gate Blvd. South in the unincorporated community adjacent to Naples, along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico.

Great Wolf's investment team bought the lot between Collier County's Paradise Sports Complex and the Uline distribution facility for $10 million in April 2021, Gulfshore Business reported.

Steve Jacobsen, the development director of Great Wolf Lodge, told the online news service that because the project has been in the planning stages for more than three years, the construction management team worked with Suffolk Construction in West Palm Beach to get ahead of the rising costs that come with inflation and supply-chain shortages.

"So, for example, if we've got three projects that are in different phases of construction, we go out and do a bulk order," Jacobsen explained. "Instead of possibly putting in an order for three elevators, we put in an order for nine. What that does is it moves you up the chain, and it allows you to hopefully negotiate a better price."

The East Naples development project will have 200 to 500 construction workers on site over the next 18 to 24 months, with the lodge expected to open by summer 2024, Gulfshore Business noted.

Naples Area Could See Huge Economic Benefits

In a 4-1 vote last summer, the Collier County commission approved $15 million in financing for the resort. The money is coming from the East Naples opportunity area zone, with $9 million going toward the Great Wolf Lodge construction costs, and $6 million to be dispersed at $2 million annually for the first three years after the resort opens.

The bulk of the project's budget, though, totaling approximately 94 percent, is coming from investors and loans from banks, according to Jacobsen.

"The company is owned by Blackstone and Centerbridge," he explained, "and so, we had to go to the market like everybody else and do conventional financing — shopping it around, trying to get the best rates."

Collier County Commissioner Penny Taylor attended the groundbreaking and said the county funding seemed like the right thing to do given the long-term benefits of having a new, destination attraction in East Naples.

A study commissioned by the county showed the resort would generate $150 million in tax revenue and $5 billion in direct spending over the next 30 years.

"This is going to be a wonderful amenity for our community," Taylor noted. "It's a development that puts us on the map."

Great Wolf Lodge's location next to the sports complex also should provide for some other synergies, Jacobsen told Gulfshore Business. The resort also will donate $250,000, matching an amount from the county, on a public amenity to be determined later.

"They're about families and kids and sports activities," he said of the sports complex. "We're about families and kids [ages two] through 12. We think there's going to be a lot of crossover between [Great Wolf Lodge and our sports facilities]."

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