The convention center facts and figures in the previous posting were taken from highlights given to the public last week. The full 150 page study will be released to a panel later.
One of the main questions that will come up after the full study is released is who would pay for it and how. It was discussed at the meeting that the convention center could perhaps be financed by Outagamie, Calumet, and Winnebago counties, or soley by Outagamie County. It was also mentioned that some communities fund their centers through hotel room tax. This might be more difficult in our area, as a large portion of the hotel room tax already supports the Performing Arts Center.
Convention centers, in general, don't turn a profit. The main attraction in building them is the money they generate into the community. Knowing this, I got to thinking of alternatives to the main hotel/convention center idea. What kind of facility might be attractive for a company to invest in that has both entities, but has something else tied into the convention center space that would generate a profit. Something that would motivate a company to plunk down $40-60 million dollars. How about a waterpark? A large scale one like those in Wisconsin Dells.
There have been rumors of waterparks on and off in our area for a number of years. Grand Chute would be the ideal location for such a development with land available near the mall; it has the retail and eateries, along with other available hotel rooms cited as important success points in the study.
I contacted Kahlarahi Resort last fall and spoke with members of the development team. Unfortunately, Grand Chute falls within their "250 rule". That is, the company doesn't build resorts within 250 miles of an existing one.
So, what do you think? Do you know of any waterpark companies that aren't already located in the Dells?
