January 21, 2005

Construction in full swing for $200M Niagara Falls attraction

NIAGARA FALLS, Ont.

For years, the Niagara Fallsview Casino held the title of Canada’s largest commercial construction project.

Now that the casino is open, another Niagara Falls attraction gets the nod for top commercial project: Great Wolf Lodge.

When it opens next spring, it will offer 406 suites, 600 square metres of meeting space and an 8,700-square-metre indoor water park.

The $200-million project also includes the new Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada, opening in late 2006 or early 2007.

Though construction has already begun, a symbolic groundbreaking was held in sub-zero temperatures on Tuesday.

“This is really quite a spectacular investment,” said Niagara Falls Tourism president Noel Buckley. “I think getting us out here and showing us the cranes and . . . the bricks and mortar is a solid illustration of their investment and commitment to Niagara Falls.”

The new resort will be the seventh and biggest lodge built by Great Wolf Resorts.

Great Wolf Lodge is wholly owned by Ripley Entertainment, a division of Canada’s third-largest privately owned company, the Jim Pattison Group, and operated by The Great Lakes Companies, Inc.

It will also be the company’s first partnership with Ripley Entertainment Inc., which is scheduled to start construction on the 10,700-square-metre aquarium this summer. Combined, the two attractions are expected to draw nearly a million people to the former campsite.

The project was announced last winter and construction was supposed to begin last April. But delays are normal for a project this big, said Ripley’s president Bob Masterson.

“One of the reasons we’re successful is that we line up everything prior to pulling the trigger on it,” he said. “Typically what happens is people announce things and they don’t have any of that done.”

The highlight of the frigid media reception was the appearance of an actual wolf.

It sat directly behind the invited dignitaries, some of whom looked nervous. At one point, a scrap of meat being fed to the wolf fell on the lap of Mayor Ted Salci, who immediately tossed it back.

The Canadian Press

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