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NEWS: Cowabunga Bay coming to Las Vegas!


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  • 1 month later...

http://www.vegasinc.com/news/2013/aug/27/water-park-sells-half-price-developer-promises-sur/

 

The past few months have been rough for the Cowabunga Bay Water Park in Henderson. First, developers said the attraction would open a year late. Now, they’ve sold the property at a 50 percent discount, less than a year after buying it.

 

General Manager Shane Huish on Friday sold the 23-acre site for $2.3 million to Tom Welch, of Utah. Huish’s group acquired the property at Gibson Road and Galleria Drive in September for $4.6 million, according to Clark County records.

 

Huish confirmed the sale and said it puts the partially built water park “in a very good position” to meet its planned April 2014 opening date. He declined to say whether he would continue managing the park or work there in some other capacity.

 

He did say Cowabunga Bay would keep its name. “We’re still bringing a water park to Henderson,” he said.

 

The buyer appears to be the man who led Salt Lake City’s efforts to land the 2002 Winter Olympics.

 

Tom Welch, who could not be reached for comment, secured the games in 1995 and was president of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee until 1997, when he resigned amid charges of spouse abuse, according to American Journalism Review.

 

Three years later, federal prosecutors indicted him and fellow Olympic organizer David Johnson on fraud charges, claiming they illegally influenced International Olympic Committee members for their votes, The New York Times reported. A federal judge acquitted them of the charges in 2003.

 

In Henderson, Welch will take charge of a planned $23 million, 1960s beach-themed water park. Huish’s group had intended to build a 33,000-square-foot wave pool, several clusters of slides, a lazy river and a multilane racing slide that would plunge riders headfirst into a pool.

 

Developers started construction in December with plans to open the park by Memorial Day weekend.

 

In April, however, Huish said the park was only half complete and would not open until spring 2014. He said work crews ran into caliche — a concrete-like mix of hardened calcium carbonate, gravel, sand, clay and silt — 15 feet below the ground. He also cited a delay in importing a custom-made water slide from Europe.

 

“It’s just a very big project to take on in a very little amount of time,” Huish said at the time.

 

Huish also is general manager of the Cowabunga Bay Water Park in Draper, Utah. His family runs three Family Fun Centers, two in suburban Seattle and one near Portland, Ore.

 

Meanwhile, Southern Nevada’s other new water park, Wet ’n’ Wild, opened in late May in Summerlin to record crowds.

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We are restructuring our development team. Unfortunately, that’s all I can say at this time. This is exactly what I told the Vegas Inc. reporter. He took it upon himself to fill in the blanks to get a tawdry headline story.

 

This is a good thing for the project and construction will be resuming shortly and Cowabunga Bay Las Vegas will be opening Spring 2014.

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Awesome, Shane, thanks for the update!

 

My sincere good vibes in making this place THE waterpark to head to....sounds like you're on track, and ultimately the behind-the-scenes drama really doesn't matter to the end user.

 

GOOD LUCK!

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As long as the park is still set to open next Spring, I don't see this as a big deal. On the surface it looks like the park has extra cash now to add or expand the rides to be even better when it opens.

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Huish declined to discuss terms of the investment because "a lot of contracts still have to be signed. We’re just restructuring the partnership so we can continue. It’s all happening for the better of the project."

 

That's really all that matters, right there. I agree that the first article was looking for a bit of drama ... and while I'm sure some would argue that not mentioning Welch's "full" history is being a bit biased in this article, it clearly lays out the overall gist of what's happening.....and you, Shane, have clearly been in the industry long enough to say "ok, he says it's what's best for the project and it's all good".

 

Plus, your Attic thread gets you LOTS of bonus points!

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

I would expect they are still getting everything in place. I would look for construction to start up the first of the year. They have already done a lot of the work so they should have no problem getting open in the Spring.

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I would expect they are still getting everything in place. I would look for construction to start up the first of the year. They have already done a lot of the work so they should have no problem getting open in the Spring.

 

Flying over it the other day, it looked like work had resumed.

 

Shane, can you confirm?

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Flying over it the other day, it looked like work had resumed.

 

It's possible, as they said construction would speed up again in September/October.

 

Their Facebook is unusually dead now, but hopefully it's all going according to the plan, and they'll make an announcement soon.

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  • 1 month later...

It has been quiet on their Facebook page for 3 months, and today this reply was sent from the park:

 

Yes, we will be open in Spring 2014. Construction will resume shortly.

 

Since they now feel confident enough to update people on Facebook again, I think they have resolved most of the problems that the park was facing.

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