Posted Sep 26, 2006, 1:59 PM
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samsonyuen
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Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Canary Wharf->CityPlace
Posts: 4,241
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From: http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/stories/2006/09/18/story15.html?b=1158552000^1345088
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Quote:
N.F., Ont., splashing with projects
Business First of Buffalo - September 15, 2006
by James Fink
Business First
Two aquarium projects in Niagara Falls, Ont., hope to make a splash with tourists when they open in two years.
Marineland, the city's oldest amusement park, announced after-Labor Day plans to develop a 60-acre, $144 million complex that will house everything from sharks and dolphins to a rainforest lagoon exhibit under four domed structures.
The complex, several years in the making, will be under construction later this month, said John Holer, park owner.
In the meantime, Ripley Entertainment Inc., operators of several museums in Niagara Falls and the recently opened Great Wolf Lodge and splash park, said they expect to open bids this week on a 120,000-square-foot aquarium. The $90 million project, the latest phase in Ripley's Great Wolf complex, is scheduled to open in 2008.
The Ripley Entertainment project remains on schedule, even with Marineland's announcement that it was building its own aquarium complex on Stanley Avenue.
"I never doubt what John Holer says," said Robert Masterson, Ripley Entertainment president. "We are continuing to go forward with our project."
Marineland's aquarium complex will feature a tank featuring sharks and stingrays, another area with an interactive dolphin exhibit, a third area highlighting an ocean reef filled with fish from the Caribbean and a rainforest exhibit.
An 80-foot "Topple Tower" thrill ride is slated to open next spring.
Also opening in the 2008 with the aquarium is Safari Park, a three-mile ride that will give customers a close up view of animals such as buffalo, deer and black bears.
Both Marineland's aquarium complex and the Great Wolf aquarium are expected to further cement Niagara Falls' reputation as the tourism hub for the Niagara region in Canada and Western New York.
Masterson said he has more concerns about the mandated passports requirement being championed by the Department of Homeland Security and its impact on Niagara Falls than what his competitors are building. U.S. federal officials are requiring all people entering the country, by car or vehicle, have a passport. The requirement, under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, takes effect Jan. 1, 2008.
Tourism and hospitality officials say the passport requirement will kill the seamless border between the U.S. and Canada and cause a dramatic drop in those visiting the region.
The passport mandate already has been pushed back one year.
Masterson said the passport issue may cast a larger spell over the project than any form of competition.
"I can see a drop off in (Niagara Falls) visitations for at least several years until people get comfortable with it (the passport mandate)," Masterson said.
Ripley, in recent years, has spent nearly $150 million in building or renovating existing operations in Niagara Falls.
Between the 406-room Great Wolf Lodge, which opened in April, and the adjoining aquarium, the Orlando-based company has invested close to $130 million in the past two years.
Besides the Great Wolf complex, Ripley's has renovated several wax and entertainment museums the company operates along Clifton Hill.
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