Great Wolf has not even welcomed its first guest into its 500-room Manteca indoor waterpark resort and they are already looking at expanding.

Mayor Ben Cantu confirmed Great Wolf is in talks with the city to execute an option to purchase an additional 9.67 acres. The original agreement with the city when Great Wolf purchased 30 acres called for the possibility of adding 200 rooms.

The only condition floated at the time was a possible Caltrans requirement the additional rooms could not be occupied until construction of the nearby McKinley interchange in the 120 Bypass was underway. The city is in the process of making that happen.

The move toward adding 200 additional rooms speaks volumes not just about the San Francisco-San Jose-Sacramento market with 18 million consumers Great Wolf can draw from but also the appeal of Manteca’s location within the regional market.

Cantu offered no additional details except that the suites would be in a second building away from the main lodge.

Great Wolf has pushed back its opening and is waiting for clearance from the California Department of Health in regards to the COVID-19 restrictions. They are now accepting bookings for June 15 and beyond. It is the fifth postponement for the opening of the resort due to the pandemic since it was completed last June.

The potential impact of not simply the 500-room resort that has yet to open as well as a possible additional 200 rooms is significant.

*Even if it ends up standing empty for a full year, Manteca will receive more than $220,000 as the city’s share of property tax on the $180 million Great Wolf investment.

*The city’s general fund based on an independent analysis of how the deal was structured would receive more than $1.9 million in the initial full year of operation thanks to the more muscular 12 percent room tax voters put in place based on 74 percent occupancy.  The amount increases as the years unfold.

*Additional rooms would increase the flow of room tax revenue into the city’s general fund to underwrite day-to-day municipal services such as police, fire, and parks.

*Great Wolf will employ upwards of 550 people.

*It will serve as an anchor in Manteca’s effort to develop a family entertainment zone on 100 acres the city owns to create jobs and sales tax revenue sources that are resilient to being undermined by e-commerce inroads.

The impact of the guests Great Wolf will draw is substantially more positive than negative.

The independent analysis determined the city’s share of Great Wolf’s sales and property taxes will cover all impacts the resort’s guests would create.

There is an expectation that resort guests will chose to not dine 100 percent within the resort and may also partake in shopping at specialty shops or do other activities such as wine tasting.

That means there will be more traffic on city streets, although not all at once.

Concerns that resort guests arriving will somehow make the daily commute more congested ignores the fact the check-in and check-out times occur outside the morning as well as afternoon-early evening commute.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com