Great Wolf Lodge Breaks Ground on Waterpark, Resort

Turner is serving as the general contractor for Great Wolf's new 45,000-sq.-ft. indoor waterpark and family resort in Grapevine, just across from the Gaylord Texan
Resort & Convention Center.Andersson-Wise, BOKA Powell Designing Block 21

Construction Begins on Waterpark

Great Wolf Resorts Inc. recently broke ground on the Great Wolf Lodge family resort and indoor waterpark in Grapevine.

Great Wolf Resorts Inc. broke ground recently in Grapevine on its more than $100 million, eight-story Great Wolf Lodge. The 450,000 sq.-ft. indoor waterpark resort will be the company's ninth Great Wolf Lodge location. The resort is slated to open late 2007

The property, located across from the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center, will include 404 family suites that sleep six to 10 people. Ten different suite configurations will accommodate the desires of each guest. Layouts range from open plans with shared bedrooms to divided areas allowing for more privacy. Four kid-friendly suites are designed for families with younger children and include a separate in-room sleeping area with rustic, handcrafted bunk beds.

The 98,000 sq.-ft. indoor entertainment area features a year-round indoor waterpark, which is 80-ft. tall from floor to ceiling.

The 84-degree waterpark will house six pools, including a gigantic wave pool, multiple zero-depth entry children's activity pools and nine waterslides.

The waterpark will be highlighted by Great Wolf Lodge's signature treehouse waterfort - an interactive water experience featuring 12 levels of water-based adventure interconnected with suspension bridges, cargo nets and web crawls.

Guests wanting to enjoy the sun will be able to splash in the outdoor waterpark featuring two tube slides, a recreation pool, family whirlpool and patio area.

Other amenities include two restaurants, a 7,000 sq.-ft. arcade and 10,000 sq. ft. of meeting and banquet space.

Turner Construction Co. of Dallas is serving as the general contractor and GSBS (Gillies Stransky Brems Smith) of Fort Worth is the project architect.

Broaddus Hired by San Marcos

Broaddus & Associates of Austin recently announced it was hired by the city of San Marcos to manage the development of a new $20 million conference center along IH-35, adding to the growing corridor area between Austin and San Marcos.

The planned facility is a one-story building, approximately 77,000 sq. ft., which will be joined to a new Embassy Suites Hotel being constructed adjacent to the conference center by JQH Development San Marcos LLC.

Broaddus will oversee the development and construction of the conference center, which will include a large main ballroom, junior ballroom, breakout rooms, pre-convene areas and utility rooms for a functional conference center physically connected to and integrated with the hotel.

Tenet Breaks Ground in El Paso

A new hospital complex that will serve the fast-growing eastside community in El Paso recently broke ground. The announcement was made by Tenet Healthcare Corp. and the company's Sierra Providence Health Network.

The new facility, named Sierra Providence Eastside Hospital, will become the fourth hospital in Tenet's Sierra Providence Health Network. The new hospital is expected to open in early 2008 with a construction cost of approximately $130 million. The facility will be located within a planned 42-acre medical complex that will include three medical office buildings to allow for growth and expansion of a >> variety of medical services. The main hospital will open with 100 beds and could expand to 159 beds within the first year. The hospital is expected to create between 750 and 1,000 new jobs in the El Paso area.

Whole Foods to Open in Sugar Land

Planned Community Developers has announced that Whole Foods Market will open a store in Lake Pointe Town Center, Sugar Land's planned mixed-use development.

Whole Foods Market recently signed a lease to occupy approximately 55,000 sq. ft. of Lake Pointe Village, a new retail center to be constructed at the intersection of SH 6 and U.S. 59.

PCD conducted a grassroots survey in 2005 to find out how much Sugar Land residents wanted a Whole Foods Market location in the area. The survey yielded an unprecedented 18.2 percent response rate. In the history of Sugar Land development, the most successful stores yielded only half that response rate in similar surveys.

Scheduled to open in fall 2007, the Sugar Land location will represent one of the largest natural and organic foods supermarkets in the Houston area. Currently, Whole Foods Market has more than 180 stores nationwide and internationally, including four locations throughout Houston.