Manteca Ready To Push Forward On Hotel, Water Park, Even Without Great Wolf Resorts
MANTECA (CBS13) — Manteca has high hopes for a large hotel with an indoor water park, but even though the city is ready to move forward, the company behind the project is having second thoughts.
The city says says it's ready to break ground, preparing the land for a developer in the next four or five months, even if Great Wolf decides not to operate its new hotel.
Manteca wants a 500-room hotel, indoor water park and a 30,000-square-foot conference center similar to what Great Wolf Resorts shows on its website, but the company isn't sure it wants Manteca.
"The reality is Great Wolf has decided to look at other Northern California locations," said city manager Karen McLaughlin.
Manteca never had a contract with Great Wolf Resorts. The city has one with McWhinney Real Estate Services, which says it's looking for other operators for the hotel and water park project.
Shoppers near where the project will be built say they're eager for the city to start building.
McLaughlin says it will happen. The City Council approved an environmental-impact report on Tuesday, meaning the city will start putting in the water, sewer and streets. Actual hotel construction may be delayed from the city's original timeline, but Great Wolf's uncertainty is being looked at as a good thing.
"We didn't want to be out there putting in underground utilities and the roads, and have a hotel developer ready to build right on top of us, so this will give us some lead time to make our improvements first," she said.
She expected Great Wolf to give an answer by the end of next week whether the city will build in Manteca.