Do you have a favourite spot in BC we should know about?
Contact getawaybc.com
Editor, Cheryl MacKinnon Or click here to submit a calendar event
Sedric swimming to Kamloops
Thursday, May 28th, 2009 by GetawayBC.com
With a price tag of more than $200 million, the development of a water park, complete with a hotel, arena, commercial space and conference centre, could be the biggest single development in Kamloops’ history.
It’s expected to take five years to fully complete but, when it’s done, Sedric’s Adventure Resort and Theme Park will sprawl 45 acres on the south side of Highway 5, across from Sun Rivers, and will employ about 1,500 people.
The first phase is a 12-acre water park – the largest in Canada and the eighth-largest in North America – that will have capacity for 8,000 people per day, boasting wave pools, thrill rides, tube rides, lazy river and children’s rides.
“I can’t begin to explain what’s inside this water park,” Doug Wittal of DW Builders told KTW, adding it will be Western-themed and be open by next summer.
“There will be an 80-foot-high tower where the bottom drops out and shoots people through the slides, another that fits eight of your friends on one tube and a swim-up pool bar.”
In addition to the water park, a 130- to 150-room hotel is planned, as well as two 12,000-foot commercial buildings, along with a couple of restaurants.
Capping it off, there will be a convention centre that can seat 1,000 people connected to a 3,000-seat ice arena with private booths and retractable roof, another 300-room hotel, a second 30,000-square-foot water park and 100 two-bedroom suites marketed to international students attending Thompson Rivers University.
“We believe it’s part of what will make Kamloops recession-proof,” Wittal of the project that will be built in phases over the next five years.
“This is just another thing that puts Kamloops on the map and shows why we’re the greatest place to live.”
After looking at other cities – including Kelowna – for the venture, he said the airport expansion and the introduction of WestJet Airlines sealed the deal for it to be built in the River City.
“People are going to be flying into Kamloops just for this – that’s the magnitude,” he said.
“I wanted it to be in Kamloops. I’m very pro-Kamloops and it works with the Tournament Capital theme. It’s huge dollars . . . the economic spinoffs are immense.”
Wittal and local partner Thomas Aubrey from IR Express have financial backing from undisclosed outside investors not affected by the current economic downturn.
During the park’s slide-show presentation, Aubrey was clearly elated, bouncing on his feet with a grin stretching ear to ear.
“Yes. Yes,” Aubrey shouted over the thunderous applause and shouts from the crowd, which included mayor and council, Kamloops Indian Band Chief Shane Gottfriedson and council, MLAs Claude Richmond and Kevin Krueger and MP Cathy Mcleod.
Despite the current economic volatility, now is the perfect storm for Wittal.
“First off, we’re not participating in the recession,” he said. “We build when things are tougher, perceived to be tougher and, when everything is opened, we’ll be through all the turmoil.”
Technically, the development is on KIB land; however, it’s an individual who owns the parcels on which the theme park will rise.
Gottfriedson said he’s pleased with the development, noting it will strengthen the entire regional economy even during times of uncertainty.
“The announcement of this project on a CP holder’s land on our reserve, what this project shows is when you partner with the right people, there is certainty that is provided,” Gottfriedson said, noting it will bring numerous economic opportunities and jobs.