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New Park in Houston Area (Grand Texas Theme Park)


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It's been slow, but they've done a TON of infrastructure work. They built a substation, new roads, new water/sewer lines, and storm drainage. Now that the RV park is open I expect full steam ahead on the water park.

 

Judging from the website, a lot of the retail/hotel/etc plots have already sold! That's huge news, and it means their real estate gamble is pulling off. I'm not sure if they'll ever get around to actually building the theme park, but a big water park, RV park, and racing park plus retail amenities is something.

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  • 3 months later...

https://communityimpact.com/houston/conroe-montgomery/arts-entertainment/2017/02/22/construction-ramps-grand-texas/

 

 

Construction ramps up at Grand Texas

Big Rivers water park tentatively projected to open this summer

By Christopher Shelton| Posted Feb. 22, 2017 at 5:09 pm

 

 

Construction ramps up at Grand Texas Grand Texas Theme Park could provide some much-needed entertainment options in east Montgomery County in 2017 despite previous delays and construction challenges.

 

Construction has concluded on the first two elements of the 632-acre entertainment venue, including Grand Texas RV Park and Speedsportz Racing Park, which opened near the intersection of Hwy. 59 and Hwy. 242 in August and December, respectively, Grand Texas officials said.

 

Now, preliminary infrastructure work for Grand Texas’ water park Big Rivers is under construction on the site. Big Rivers is slated to be completed before the start of the summer, Grand Texas CEO Monty Galland said.

 

Inclement weather, potential construction mishaps and the scope of a development this large create variables that make predicting an opening date difficult, Grand Texas Creative Director Lance Martin said.

 

“We’ve got a big [goal] ahead of us—that’s trying to do everything right before we do anything wrong,” Martin said. “That’s why it’s taking so long. We have a lot of tasks that people don’t see.”

 

Park elements

 

The Grand Texas Theme Park will feature five roller coasters, dozens of rides and an emphasis on live entertainment, Galland said.

 

The park’s theme is based on Texas history, which includes Spanish, Mexican and German influences. At its opening, Grand Texas will be about the same size as Six Flags AstroWorld—the 57-acre theme park that closed in 2005, he said.

 

Construction on Grand Texas’ namesake amusement park and a sports complex is expected to begin when Big Rivers—a 40-acre water park—is completed, Galland said. Construction on the theme park could take two years.

 

In addition, Grand Texas will feature several retail and entertainment elements, such as a factory outlet mall, four hotels and 450,000 square feet of retail and dining space in the park’s Downtown Texas section.

 

While the completion of the mall is 30-36 months away, construction on Downtown Texas is expected to begin when the theme park is completed.

 

“A region like this needs a big entertainment facility,” Martin said.

 

Local Effects

 

For the east Montgomery County area, the theme park could create more economic demand, said Jenna Armstrong, president and CEO of the Lake Houston Area Chamber of Commerce.

 

“The prospect of [Grand Texas] is huge for [the Greater Houston area], and that effect is going to be felt in the Lake Houston area,” Armstrong said.

 

Demand for housing in the area is expected to increase once major park elements open, said Brian Gibson, a community development manager For Friendswood Development. The company is developing more than 4,000 homes in Royal Brook and Tavola, two subdivisions near Kingwood, he said.

 

“We believe it will be a positive factor driving traffic to the area,” Gibson said.

 

However, after project delays and previous theme parks pitched on this tract of land that did not come to fruition, residents and business owners remain cautiously optimistic, Armstrong said.

 

Grand Texas was originally slated for completion in 2015 but was delayed because of the design limitations of the original engineering firm and delays in utility hookups, Galland said. Meanwhile, inclement weather caused delays in 2015 and 2016, Martin said.

 

Grand Texas finished construction of Speed Street—a quarter-mile road that created an entrance to Speedsportz Racing Park— in late November.

 

The $1.2 million project is the first phase of more than 2 miles of public roads that will be a part of Grand Texas at build-out, Grand Texas Communications Manager Jessica Marquez said. The developer expects to spend $3.5 million on road projects, she said.

 

While it is not directly related to the amusement park, the Texas Department of Transportation will expand Hwy. 242 to improve safety near the theme park in the future, TxDOT spokesperson Deidrea George said.

 

The $100 million project would widen Hwy. 242 from two to four lanes between Needham Drive in Conroe and Hwy. 59. The expansion could receive funding in 2023 and includes an overpass at FM 1314, which could receive funding as early as 2018, George said.

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I've been getting frustrated lately along with seeming everyone down in the Houston area that knows about this project, so I'm glad to get another little bone of news.

 

No more infrastructure excuses at this point - everything seems to be in place and they've done a massive amount of clearing. A ton of the plots have been sold off to my amazement. I've speculated that this whole thing was really just a plot to sell land at higher prices. If they get a water park built, then that's something, but I'm starting to wonder how serious they ever were about the theme park and outlet mall. They keep saying they'll do one thing after another, but then they turn around and perpetually delay the start. On the other hand though, there are plenty of good excuses and there always have been signs of progress all along.

 

Let's just hope they do get the water park open this year and a lot of the criticism will die down.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So I decided to blow off a little steam in Houston/Galveston over the weekend, and I started things off by driving up to New Caney to check out the progress on this thing that I've heard so much about. This place is only about a 15 minute drive from the airport with easy traffic and highway access.

 

Right off the bat it's easy to tell that a ton of work has been done if you know anything about infrastructure. There's been obvious sewer, storm, and water line improvements all over the area, with at least a couple of new lift stations noticeable just from the road. They've probably spent in the ten's of millions range already just on preparing the land for development. And of course the clearings are huge. There were a few people and a bulldozer out there working on this drizzly Saturday morning.

 

I stopped by the RV park. To my surprise, it was about more than half filled on this cold wet early march weekend. A lot of it could be construction workers, but who knows. The lady in the office told me that the water park has broken ground, but won't open until 2018. She said they hoped to open the theme park in 2020. Going by the typical trend here, we can expect it to actually open in 2024.

 

I think there's going to be an explosion of vertical construction this summer with the water park and several of the pad sites starting construction. That will really bring the area to life. We'll just have to wait and see how the water park turns out to see if the theme park will ever become a reality. These people are serious, but they are land developers, not a theme park company.

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  • 1 month later...
So I decided to blow off a little steam in Houston/Galveston over the weekend, and I started things off by driving up to New Caney to check out the progress on this thing that I've heard so much about. This place is only about a 15 minute drive from the airport with easy traffic and highway access.

 

Right off the bat it's easy to tell that a ton of work has been done if you know anything about infrastructure. There's been obvious sewer, storm, and water line improvements all over the area, with at least a couple of new lift stations noticeable just from the road. They've probably spent in the ten's of millions range already just on preparing the land for development. And of course the clearings are huge. There were a few people and a bulldozer out there working on this drizzly Saturday morning.

 

I stopped by the RV park. To my surprise, it was about more than half filled on this cold wet early march weekend. A lot of it could be construction workers, but who knows. The lady in the office told me that the water park has broken ground, but won't open until 2018. She said they hoped to open the theme park in 2020. Going by the typical trend here, we can expect it to actually open in 2024.

 

I think there's going to be an explosion of vertical construction this summer with the water park and several of the pad sites starting construction. That will really bring the area to life. We'll just have to wait and see how the water park turns out to see if the theme park will ever become a reality. These people are serious, but they are land developers, not a theme park company.

Nice update as this has been a development I've been trying to keep tabs on over the years. Good to see some progress being made. I guess whether that eventually leads to theme parks and RMC's remains to be seen but at least it's something!

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  • 4 weeks later...

I'm starting to lose hope in this project. So far, we've gotten no updates on the water park and theme park and they lied to us about an update in March (it's now May). I know a theme park takes time to build but they've given us nothing besides an overpriced RV park and a racing park that I have plenty of others around to go to. Seriously though what's going on over there? Will they ever give us an update on the theme park and water park (and to a lesser extent the adventure park)? Are they planning on ACTUALLY breaking ground or are they just gonna stall on it again? Because now it's gotten to the point where it became a contest to see which will finished first, this or 290.

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I have heard from people who worked on the project that it will happen one day but not anytime in the next few years. But hey, Adventure Pointe is being built right now as I type this down the road. Go support them because I know they have big plans.

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  • 1 month later...

So Grand Texas updated their proposed map of their district

It's refreshing to see that they still somewhat care about their theme park and water park. And someone else said they're having power issues with neighborhoods and they still have to build some tunnels and a power substation which does explain a lot that's been happening recently. Although I'm still losing hope in this park I still have some faith that hopefully they'll give us an update on the theme park and water park and if they're right, Big Rivers will hopefully open in 2018 and Grand Texas will hopefully open in 2020.

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Has anyone been by this lately? Has anything of substance actually been started on yet? I went looking for news today and all I could find was the last big article that said the water park would open this summer...

 

I know I was just there a bit over three months ago and I was impressed by all the clearing and landwork/infrastructure, but lately I've been wondering about it more and more. Infrastructure and re-design issues can certainly cause a hold up, but if it takes this many years you are doing something wrong or it was never really your intention in the first place. Unless they have started construction or are truly about to start, this thing is really starting to smell. I noticed all along that there was an emphasis in selling off real estate parcels, but I thought that was just a piece of the big picture.

 

According to their site, they have sold off a fair number of parcels without any of the amusements being built besides a third party super go-kart track. That should have given them the infusion and backing needed to get, at minimum, the water park off the ground. They've also had several years to get the infrastructure and redesign issues sorted, and we know that the main pieces of the expanded water, sewer, and electrical infrastructure are already in place. So what now? Not many excuses left...

 

Seems like there is a chance they will come out within the next year or so and say "oops, our theme/water park plans fell through, but here's even more real estate for sale!". Somehow I could see there being a scheme behind the scenes where they rip off investors and tax payers who paid for the infrastructure improvements and make a huge windfall profit by appearing to throw in the towel and coming out with a typical neighborhood/shopping center area.

 

Who knows, maybe I'm reading it wrong like a lot of people, but I've tried to be supportive for years now and it's getting harder to keep the faith. When you start trying to peek under the mask, the fact that they threw together an RV park and spent so much time bragging about a go kart track built by someone else really starts to look more suspicious than hopeful, like they have tried to string along just enough news to make it look like they are working towards something. And why clear off all the land way in advance if you aren't even going to start on the other parts for several more years? If you were truly focused on building this complex one piece at a time you'd surely want to focus on the next piece at hand, but clearing everything off would raise the property value if you were really just planning on selling it off at some point.

 

Someone tell me that they are actually working on the water park as we speak and shut me up.

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This should answer some of the questions being asked:

 

Grand Texas Theme Park on Facebook

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https://communityimpact.com/houston/lake-houston-humble-kingwood/arts-entertainment/2017/06/16/grand-texas-theme-park-updates-construction-timeline/

Grand Texas Theme Park updates construction timeline

Work to begin on Big Rivers water park in August

Grand-Texas.jpg

Construction on Big Rivers—the water park planned at the Grand Texas Theme Park—will begin in August, Grand Texas CEO Monty Galland said. It could be completed as early as spring 2018, he said.

 

The updated timeline for Big Rivers comes after another round of delays. In January, Grand Texas officials projected the park to open this summer.

 

Delays were caused after the water park’s initial lender backed out; the oil and gas downturn scared lenders from making large investments in Houston, Galland said. Construction delays on infrastructure projects also pushed the project back, he said.

 

Now, the $9 million in infrastructure projects surrounding Big Rivers are complete and lending for the water park has been secured. Despite the delays and setbacks, Galland said he is confident the project is on track.

 

“My whole adult life I’ve been in real estate and real estate development, and it was always transactional,” he said. “People ask me ‘Well what’s my exit strategy?’ I always say ‘A pine box.’ I will be here for the next 30 years. We bought this land for one purpose, and that was to build a theme park.”

 

Once construction is completed next spring, the developer will shift its focus to the Grand Texas Theme Park, a sportsplex and a factory outlet mall similar in size and style to Tanger Outlets in Texas City.

 

Construction on the factory outlet mall will begin as soon as Grand Texas is able to lease 60 percent of the property, Galland said.

 

“The water park creates another attraction, in addition to SpeedSportz,” Galland said. “The factory outlets creates a destination as well as a tax base and all of that contributes to the infrastructure being completed.”

 

Park elements

The Grand Texas Theme Park will feature five roller coasters, dozens of rides and an emphasis on live entertainment, Galland said. The park’s theme is based on the history of Texas, which includes Spanish, Mexican and German influences. At its opening, Grand Texas will be about the same size as Six Flags AstroWorld—the 57-acre Houston theme park that closed in 2005, he said.

 

Big Rivers will be a 40-acre water park inspired by Texas rivers. In addition to the theme park, water park and Speedsportz Racing Park, Grand Texas will feature several other retail and entertainment elements, such as four hotels and 450,000 square feet of retail and dining in the park’s Downtown Texas section.

 

Completed projects

Construction has concluded on the first two elements of the 632-acre entertainment venue, including Grand Texas RV Park and Speedsportz Racing Park, which opened in 2016.

 

The kart-racing park features two European-style kart racing tracks. One of the tracks hosts professional kart races and international events, while the other services patrons for everyday use.

 

Grand Texas also finished construction of Speed Street—a quarter-mile road that created an entrance to Speedsportz Racing Park—in late November.

 

The $1.2 million project is the first phase of more than 2 miles of public roads that will be a part of Grand Texas at build-out, Grand Texas Communications Manager Jessica Marquez said.

UPDATED TIMELINES

• Big Rivers completion—spring 2018

 

• Grand Texas Sportsplex completion—winter 2018

 

• Grove Factory outlet mall completion—spring 2019

 

• Grand Texas Theme Park completion—spring 2020

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OK, that really does answer a lot of it. So they were in fact having major investment trouble with a main backer having to leave - that is understandable and I can understand why they were being quiet about it. It sounds like everything is back in order once again and they can truly get down to business in two months. I will be watching with much anticipation.

 

Can't believe how much the design seems to have changed again though. I know it's always been conceptual, but the rendering shown emphasizes much more retail for the actual theme park than they initially alluded to. With the outlet mall taking up the entire east side, that's a lot of retail in an age where stores are drying up exponentially.

I love city-walk style developments though, so I'm sure it will be a hit.

 

The theme park area is just a placeholder I suppose. Hope they haven't lost sight of all the great theming they talked about earlier. Weren't they also hinting at an RMC like Outlaw Run?

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I think it's a just prototype layout of the district. I really hope they stick to the design of both the water park and the theme park. One thing I have a question about is when is Gator Bayou and Downtown Texas opening? I'm guessing they probably got pushed back a year too. I really can't stand the amount of ungrateful people about this project that are complaining about the fact that they're building the water park first and that they're building a water park and outlet mall even though

A. They've planned on building the water park first since 2013.

B. Once the water park opens they'll work on the theme park.

C. Almost every theme park has a water park in conjunction with it. Heck, some theme parks a located right next to outlet malls, even Adventure Pointe is getting built right by Tangiers Outlet.

There's also some more ungrateful people complaining and nitpicking about other aspects of the project.

Other than that I can't wait.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Here's an update on the water park. Right now they're discussing with architect about the main entrance to Big Rivers Water Park. I'm just glad that they're finally working on it. But I swear Houstonians are some of the most negative people out there. Even when they're working on it they're still sour and bitter. The fact that they can mix Grand Texas and Earthquest up amazes me. I just wish they could shut up.

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  • 1 month later...
Apologies for the double post:

 

 

Did the Grand Texas area flood during the Hurricane or was it ok?

 

That area got a lot of rain but there's no construction going on right now. I know the Go kart place across the street is already back open. I do know that Adventure Pointe took a hit and some of the buildings took on damage. Just more delay for their opening.

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