$160M 4-Season Waterpark
Discussed For Otsego County
Site Considered Between Cooperstown, Oneonta
COOPERSTOWN – It’s not among $230 million priority projects in the MV500 plan sent to Governor Cuomo’s office on Oct. 5, but a $160 million, four-season, indoor-outdoor water park, somewhere between Oneonta and Cooperstown, is outlined in the section on tourism strategies.
According to “Sparking Transformation,” the Mohawk Valley Upstate Revitalization Prospectus, “Otsego County is working with a developer” on the project.
“The 400-suite resort … expands the options for families staying in the region for youth baseball camps, provides an alternative year-’round venue for families visiting the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and offers a destination-scale attraction for families with school-aged children in the Northeast and Canada during winter vacation and spring breaks,” the prospectus reports on Page 98.
The project – 85,000 square feet of indoor water park and 43,000 square feet of outdoor water park – would create an estimated 1,200 construction jobs over 18 months, with a payroll of more than $150 million, and 600 FTE positions when open with an annual payroll of $16 million.
Over a decade, the financial impact would top $800 million, according to the prospectus.
While the project hasn’t been announced in the county, the Otsego Now President Sandy Mathes had been working on “a large nationally branded indoor water park, outlet retail and a number of other users” in 2008 in New Baltimore, Greene County, according to a report on the possibilities of reviving the project.
“Regrettably, as the SEQRA process ended the economy took an unexpected turn and the project was placed on hold,” the report says.
Presumably, Mathes, who was Greene County economic developer at the time, has maintained contacts in that sector.
I would love to have a Waterpark here and as a business in the area I feel it would help stretch or increase our business to being more then just seasonal. I hate closing in the winter and just need more steady traffic to stay open. Since our business focuses on locally made products, this would help many local businesses.
I think this would be a welcome addition to our area. Any boost we can give to our small businesses and any long term, full-time employment opportunities would benefit our area. I think it would also be a fabulous place to hold birthday parties, which local kids would love.
Love the idea but really between Oneonta and Cooperstown. There are other parts of Otsego County that could use a good new business opportunity near by.
A Waterpark would be nice. Even if they have to scale it down and make it smaller. Other parks are needed like large (at least 3 acres) off-leash dog parks should also be created for the public. It is 2019, and not much more has been written about the Waterpark possibility. Other festive issues–there does not seem to be a nice carousel anywhere, there are no ball walls (larger than handball walls with more back space for multipurpose sports) and there are no handball walls anymore. It seems that all of the money goes to the military and there is nothing much left for afterschool programs for children or anything else since the 1960s or 1970s in New York City or New York State. Hopscotch and other girl games are even missing from many modern school yards and public sports places.