The developer of a planned 1.3 million-square-foot shopping center near Frederick is also considering building a 150,000-square-foot indoor water park and a 300-room hotel there.
“We are very interested in the greater Denver market for a water park,” said Erin Ruppenthal, spokeswoman for Chicago-based Landmark Resorts & Hotels, the hotel subsidiary of Landmark Properties. “But at this point, we’re still very much at the negotiation level.”
Landmark Properties is co-developing six retail complexes around the U.S., including the one in Frederick. It announced recently that several of them will feature “state-of-the-art indoor water park entertainment” complexes known as Grizzly Falls Resorts.
The company is building a $125 million Grizzly Falls Resort in Rosemont, Ill., near Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. The 400-room property is scheduled to open in early 2008.
Last week, Landmark Properties filed development plans with the town of Frederick for the open-air mall, which will be at Interstate 25 and Colorado 52. Called Frederick Town Center, it will include at least two big-box anchors.
The company could also build a 300-room hotel at the site, according to Jennifer Hoffmann, Frederick planning director.
“We have had discussions with them,” she said. “There is a provision in their development plan that allows for it. It would certainly be a great thing for Frederick because we don’t have any hotels here now.”
The metro area has several outdoor water parks, including Six Flags Elitch Gardens’ Island Kingdom. But indoor water parks attached to hotels have grown in popularity in recent years because they attract families, said Denver hotel consultant John Montgomery.
“Waterparks have really piqued a lot of developers’ interest lately,” he said. “They can become mini-tourist destinations.”
The Frederick Town Board is expected to approve the mall project as early as next month.
Staff writer Julie Dunn can be reached at 303-954-1592 or at jdunn@denverpost.com.
