Reno first in the water

The Grand Sierra Resort & Convention Center's plan for a seven-story water slide that's fun.

And 150,000 square feet of water park on the Reno Hilton Hotel property even more fun.

And $150 million up front with upwards of $1 billion in development to come that's big.

But bigger still is the group's vision for additional mega-resorts.Maybe as many as five.

Reno is the first for this core team, says Tom Schrade, president of the corporation.

He's been watching the Reno area for a couple of years.

And it has what the group looks for in a mega,waterpark-based destination resort location, nearby amenities, population.

The same factors the team is seeking in other locations, says Schrade.A long-term vision that includes mega-resorts at key destination areas with proximity to other amenities and traffic generators places such as Disneyland, for instance.

And though folks don't usually talk about Reno and Disney in the same breath, both have those traffic generators that Schrade is talking about.

And in such areas, a destination water park resort adds value, he says.

But first comes the money.

Schrade and his team of top-level developers and investors are putting significant coins down on the value-added aspect their project brings to Reno.

The group, organized as a corporation, is finalizing negotiations for its senior debt on the property, says Bob Pace, Grand Sierra Resort executive vice president and a longtime developer of hotels and indoor waterparks.

Following those negotiations will come the group's efforts toward its next goal, to go public through a reverse merger and to gain access to further financing.

The timeline on that? "About six to nine months after the close of the deal," says Schrade.

The close has been estimated for end of this year, and forecasts for things to stay on schedule are sunny.

It's a determined team, say Schrade."We do not believe anything will stop the group from going forward," he says."Our mentality is that we are going to do it."And if roadblocks crop up? "We will find a way around them." The team has the credentials to do it.

Schrade drew together a group of experts from different arenas, he says Roberts H.

Pace Jr.

from hotel development and management, Terry J.Ramaker from waterpark design and engineering, Scott Bayless from financing, among them.He's added the former chief executive officer and chairman of MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Larry Woolf, to lease the gaming segment for the first few months until the Grand Sierra group has time to wade its way through the gaming license approval process.

Then plans are for Woolf to manage the gaming.Woolf is also owner and chief executive officer of Casino Fandango in Carson City.

Schrade himself is a developer with 25 years of experience in casino, theme park and commercial sites.

Adds Ramaker about the beauty of the Reno location: "Within a 250-mile radius, there are over 14 million people - and no waterpark competition." By comparison, the famed Wilderness Resort waterpark at Wisconsin Dells, which Ramaker also helped develop, has 12 million people in its 250-mile radius, but 15 waterparks.

The Reno area overall was a draw for the Grand Sierra team.

The location within spitting distance of an international airport is a factor attracting the group.

The proximity of the airport, says Terry Ramaker, makes the project's radius of influence international.

Ramaker, engineer and chief executive officer of Ramaker Design Build, Inc., a firm known for its waterparks, heads up the group's design team.

The Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority's rebranding of the Biggest Little City in the World as America's Adventure Place is a spectacular draw for the team, too.

The property itself is a draw, a hotel that's prime for renovation, and land 148 acres suitable for indoor slide and condo development.

The property is under-utilized at the moment, says Schrade, but in his view, it has all the elements of a family destination resort.

Plus a few extras like, for instance, the bowling alley.

"We wouldn't have built a bowling alley," says Schrade, but since it's there, it becomes part of the Grand Sierra package.

But there had to be more to justify a multimillion dollar investment.

That more is the one-two punch of Reno and the Tahoe Basin the lake,with all of its pristine beauty and sports, plus ski resorts, golf,mountain hiking, and river sports.Add to that the convention business, says Schrade, and toss a bit of gaming into the mix.

It's an attractive package.

The Grand Sierra Resort is estimating it will draw two million visitors in its first year.

More after that as it moves from phase one, the water park and hotel renovation, into later phases of condominium development, more waterpark, and further build-out of the resort.