Texas ski resort planned for Grand Prairie
Why should a subtropical climate and pancake-flat expanse get in the way of Texas having snow-covered ski slopes to call its own? This is a place, after all, whose scorching summers helped build the world’s first domed sports stadium.
Yesterday the City of Grand Prairie announced that Grand Alps Resort and Hard Rock International are planning to construct a new $140 million, 350,000-square-foot ski facility and a $75 million Hard Rock Hotel on Belt Line Road north of I-30 in Grand Prairie.
According to the release:
“Plans include a hotel containing 300 rooms, 28,000 square feet of open meeting space, 20,000 square feet of divisible meeting space, at least two restaurants, an exercise facility, luxury spa facilities, resort style rooftop pool complex, and structured parking. The developer plans to build a second hotel of comparable quality or expand the existing hotel by 300 rooms within two years of initial opening of first hotel.
The indoor ski resort will be a year-round, world-class fourth generation indoor facility with restaurants and specialty retail, and will be integrated with the Hard Rock hotel. The snow dome will offer indoor ski slope measuring nearly 300 feet tall and 1200 feet long, an indoor ice climbing wall, luge track and winter wonderland play area.
The city’s investment includes the land, three-year Tax Increment Financing (TIF) funds for infrastructure, 100% real estate tax abatement for seven years, and a 75% rebate of hotel motel tax for 10 years after opening.
The developer anticipates ground breaking in first quarter 2015, contingent upon full financing. The project will take 34 months to construct and is scheduled to open in early 2018. The resort will create over 1,900 jobs upon full operation. The total multi-phase project is estimated to be $400 million at completion.”
The project will be Hard Rock International’s first hotel in Texas, according to the Orlando Business Journal.
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