Construction could begin within months on a $350 million water park resort near Mount Pocono.
Officials representing Kalahari Resorts on Thursday unveiled development plans for the proposed 150-acre complex in Monroe County that eventually could employ up to 1,500 people.
The resort, which would include indoor and outdoor water parks and a convention center, would be situated on the west golf course at Pocono Manor, adjacent to Interstate 380.
Kalahari, which is based in Wisconsin and initially disclosed plans for the development in August, reported it hopes to open the attraction in late 2014 or early 2015. The company operates water park resorts in Wisconsin and Sandusky, Ohio.
On Thursday, members of the Tobyhanna Twp. Planning Commission heard the presentation for the development, township engineer Robert McHale said.
Mr. McHale said he will assemble a review of the plan for the commission soon.
"They are trying to move it along expeditiously," he said. "There is a lot of coordination going on right now."
If the commission approves the plan, it would be presented to the township supervisors for final consideration.
If approvals are granted quickly, construction could begin between April and June, said Joseph Mullen, an executive at the Wilkes-Barre office of Pennoni Associates Inc., a Philadelphia-based engineering consulting firm that is doing the engineering on the project.
"We still have some work ahead of us to get through the process," Mr. Mullen said. "The township has been very cooperative and we are hoping to see an approval in the next two months."
Kalahari reported it plans to construct the complex in phases. The first stage would include a hotel with 450 rooms and suites, a 100,000-square-foot indoor water park, a two-acre outdoor water park, a 65,000-square-foot convention center, a 30,000-square-foot indoor theme park and arcade, two ballrooms, two full-services restaurants and retail space. Later development could result in up 1,200 hotel rooms, a 15-acre outdoor water park and a 300,000-square-foot indoor water park, according to Kalahari.
The project is expected to create about 1,200 temporary construction jobs, 700 full-and part-time jobs initially at the resort and up to 1,500 jobs eventually, according to Hotel and Leisure Advisors, a Cleveland hospitality consulting firm that performed an economic impact study related to the development.
Resort visitors will pump up to $18 million annually into the regional economy, the study projects.
Contact the writer: jhaggerty@timesshamrock.com