Exclusive Great Wolf Lodge, Gilroy Negotiation Period For First NorCal Resort Expires

GILROY, CA — While a Great Wolf Lodge is likely coming to the Northern California tourism market soon, it remains to be seen whether Gilroy will be selected for that honor. The city of Gilroy and the national chain of family-oriented indoor water park resorts were in a 60-day exclusivity period but that ended Saturday, Sept. 30 without a commitment, city officials indicated Monday in a news release.

"The City of Gilroy and Great Wolf Resorts, Inc., will, however continue discussions regarding a public/private partnership for a Great Wolf Lodge and indoor water park in Gilroy," Gabriel Gonzalez, city administrator, stated in the news release. "Part of any process will include environmental review of the site to identify potential impacts to be mitigated."

Had an agreement been solidified, construction of the 700-suite resort could have started as early as December 2019 on city-owned property adjacent to Gilroy Gardens Family Theme Park, according to information posted on the city website. Currently, the property just south of Highway 152/Hecker Pass is primarily used for storage and parking.

Gilroy Mayor Roland Velasco and his fellow city officials remain hopeful Gilroy will be selected as a site for a Great Wolf Lodge.

"Such a project would have a great economic boost to our town in terms of generating significant new tax revenues for the City of Gilroy," Velasco said. "We will continue to explore and study this potential proposal including environmental impacts with all due diligence."

Headquartered in Chicago, Great Wolf Resorts currently has 17 locations – 16 in the U.S. and one in Canada. The resorts are typically centered around an indoor water park, with additional on-site attractions such as shops, restaurants and conference facilities.

At this time, the Golden State's lone Great Wolf Lodge is in the Southern California city of Garden Grove, near Anaheim.

On Tuesday, Jason Lasecki, a corporate spokesperson for Great Wolf Resorts, sent this statement to Gilroy Patch:

"As we look to expand the Great Wolf Lodge experience to new audiences, the potential of adding a resort in Northern California is of great interest to us. While the 60-day exclusive negotiation period with the City of Gilroy has expired, we are still evaluating Gilroy as a potential location for a future Great Wolf Lodge. We look forward to continued discussions with Gilroy city leaders and community members as we move forward with the evaluation process. While we are very interested in developing a resort in Gilroy and feel it would be a good fit for our brand of family entertainment, we will restart conversations in the near future with Northern California communities in our consideration set and look to finalize a decision soon."

Photo: Great Wolf Lodge, Pocono Mountains, Pennsylvania (Photo courtesy of Great Wolf Resorts, Inc.)