posted on July 23, 2010 01:54
A planned water park in Pflugerville has hit a snag that could further delay its opening slated for next year, but its developers and city officials are still vowing to push the project forward.
The Pflugerville Community Development Corp. rescinded a development agreement last week to bring a water park to the city after its developer, Blu Bambu LP, failed to raise the $8 million required by deadlines in the agreement, including $1 million for the purchase of 50 acres of PCDC land on which the park was to be built by May 2011.
Pflugerville Community Development Corp. Executive Director Charles Simon said the agreement needed to be approved by both his department and the city council, and was rescinded primarily because he wants to draft a new version.
“So the agreement was only halfway done because our board approved it but the city council hadn’t yet and I didn’t feel comfortable taking it to city council for approval in its current state,” Simon said. “We had to rescind it only because we wanted to tweak it but we still think we can help the project get done and are continuing to work with the developers.”
Construction on the water park was expected to begin in late 2009 with an opening of May 2010, but developers pushed it to May 2011 because of bad weather and wanting more time to develop the site plan before moving forward. The developers are Jim Brisco and Shea Hanvey.
Simon said developers think the projected date for the park’s opening next May is still feasible as long as the company can break ground before October.
Blu Bambu Water park is slated as $16 million project planned at the southwest corner of Pecan Street and Toll 130 in Pflugerville. The park will initially span 26 acres, including a 14-acre park and a 12-acre parking lot, and feature a wave pool, a surfing attraction, a lazy river, eight to 10 large water slides, activity areas for young children, sand volleyball courts, covered pavilions and a stage for concerts. It’s unclear what will happen with the remaining acres but city officials envision the area in general including hotels, restaurants and other entertainment venues.
The water park project would be a big win for the city as it would develop property along SH 130 where much activity has slowed; add the city’s first major outdoor activities complex; and generate more sales tax revenue to lower its notoriously high property taxes.
Developers expect the park to attract more than 300,000 visitors annually from across Central Texas.
According to the results of a study commissioned by Brisco and Hanvey, Blu Bambu could bring $6.3 million in revenue in its first year of operation, which would generate $393,750 in sales tax revenue. Of that, the City of Pflugerville would receive an estimated $63,000 in sales tax revenue, PCDC would receive $31,500, and Travis County Emergency Services District No. 2 would receive $31,500.
In the late 1990s, Jim Brisco founded a nonprofit organization and helped secure state grants to fund the construction of Splashway Water park in Sheridan, Texas. The park opened in June 1998; after operating the water park for three years, Brisco and his wife, Carolyn, left to focus on their Kyle-based business, Boulder Pools. Shea Hanvey and her husband, Steve, met Brisco when he built the Hanvey’s backyard pool, and the two couples soon began discussing plans to build a water park together. They formed Blu Bambu LP in 2009 and the Pflugerville project is their first.
July 16, 2010 | Austin Business Journal