Several agreements passed unanimously by the City Council on Thursday will turn a one-time cold call into a 351-acre development city leaders said will change the Round Rock economy.
“We’ve been trying to get to Texas the last four years,” Kalahari owner Todd Nelson told City Council members. “We started in Frisco and Dallas. Then we met with [Round Rock Chamber Vice President of Economic Development] Ben White. There are a lot of reasons Round Rock makes sense for us.”
Kalahari owner Todd Nelson talks to the Round Rock City Council before they voted on several agreements to bring the hotel, conference center and water park to town.[/caption]It’s the company’s first warm-climate location, which will be along Hwy. 79 across from Dell Diamond and Old Settlers Park. Headquartered with its hotel and conference center in Dells,Wisconsin, Kalahari also has locations in Sandusky, Ohio and in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania.
Nelson asked for the city’s support for an aggressive schedule to complete the project. He said a contract for the design would be awarded by Jan. 1 and Kalahari would like to break ground in May 2018, if not sooner. The opening date is targeted for May 2020.
The city of Round Rock announced on Friday terms were reached on several agreements with Kalahari, pending council approval. City officials addressed a couple of concerns they received from residents, including one about water usage.
Assistant City Manager Brooks Bennett told council members the development would not have an additional impact on the water and wastewater infrastructure over what current zoning for a neighborhood would generate. If the land was developed as a subdivision, more than 1,400 homes could be built.
The project, Bennett said, will make Round Rock a destination for tourists, diversify the city’s economy and boost other businesses with traffic from visitors.
While the agreements call for minimums of 975 hotel rooms, 700 employees, a 200,000-square-foot indoor/outdoor water park and a 150,000-square-foot convention center, Nelson said those numbers may be conservative.
“This will be our flagship,” he said. “We are going to create a spectacular resort here. I could see the convention center more like $50 million and 200,000 square feet. We will hire 250 lifeguards, 250 housekeepers and 200 in food and beverage.”
Nelson said during negotiations, city officials made it clear they weren’t willing to risk a failed development.
“You have a very talented bunch of people here,” Nelson told the council. “They said, ‘Our residents cannot be responsible for one dime.’ We struck a deal that is fair to everyone and puts your community at absolutely zero risk.”
Mayor Alan McGraw said residents asked city officials about Hawaiian Falls, a water park in Pflugerville, and how that compares to Kalahari. The management of Hawaiian Falls defaulted on their agreement with the Pflugerville Community Development Corp., missing payments since September. The PCDC has a city-backed loan for $25 million for the property and water park..
Nelson said Kalahari is a water park, a theme park, a convention center and hotel with restaurants, shops and a spa, all open to the public.
“Comparing this to Hawaiian Falls is a misnomer,” said Nelson, who visited Hawaiian Falls on Thursday. As Nelson signed the agreements with McGraw, the Pflugerville City Council and PCDC were an hour away from announcing a lease and operating agreement with Typhoon Texas Waterpark.
Round Rock officials said the agreements protect the city financially if Kalahari fails to uphold its end of agreements.
“All debt will be paid off with tax revenues and no incentive payments will be made to Kalahari until the yearly debt payment and reserve requirements are 100 percent met,” Bennett said.
The city of Round Rock will own the land and the conference center, leasing the land back to Kalahari.
“We’re ecstatic to be here,” Nelson said. “One hundred percent of our focus will be on Round Rock.”
The rezoning process will begin in early 2017.
