No change minus lots of highway construction. (at least nothing I noticed....I try to take a peak in the area to see if there is anything going on...) I drive through it whenever I drive down from Nacogdoches.
pretty sure it won't. my understanding is they haven't touched the land yet with regard to developing this project.
Talk is cheap. It's been years and this thing still hasn't been built. I don't think it's going to happen.
they should just make over the entire state of texas. ride a roller coaster to work, that kind of thing.
Here's a news story on the park done about a month ago: http://www.click2houston.com/video/24849444/index.html
I remember reading that when it came out. I think the other park is "Grand Texas" in Tomball. On the site, it says big changes are coming, so we'll see. Both Grand Texas and EarthQuest would be connected via the Grand Parkway.
I can't believe I've NEVER heard of this at all...but it sounds like it's a stretch to call it a theme park: http://www.grandtx.com/Home_Page.html
That's what I would have said at first, too, but they updated their website with this not too long ago: So, we'll see. The other theme park might also be Snow Mountain Texas: http://swamplot.com/snow-mountain-texas-indoor-skiing-in-houston/2008-07-23/ We'll see. Exciting things for the Houston area though.
DAMN! Can a mod take out that picture? It was so small on the website, but now my page is super-stretched.
Scarface - did you read his plans for the Grand Texas concept on the website? that's what i was talking about when i said it was a stretch to call it a theme park.
Yeah, I read it when it was first announced, but like I said, they updated the site with that new info I posted above (with that huge ass picture). I actually believe they stopped construction on it as well, but I could see the "Grand Texas" idea growing into a theme park. Seems cheesy enough . We'll see.
If they updated the site with the picture, you'd think they'd update the site with the new ideas that would make this a real theme park. But beyond that...he's talking about a total investment of between $5-6 million. I don't think that builds you a theme park. It builds you some sort of entertainment option...but that isn't anything along the lines of what I'd call a theme park. 56,000 square feet equals just over an acre.
All very true. Grand Texas is just the only thing I can think of, besides that Snow Mountain Texas thing. I haven't heard any news of another "theme park" in the area, other than those two.
Yeah, i hadn't heard of it at all. I had heard of Snow Mountain. And of course I heard about EarthQuest. Those projects are just sooo much larger in scale than what he's talking about with Grand Texas. I think that makes Grand Texas a much easier project to actually pull off....I just don't care about it though. I'd definitely go out to EarthQuest...but Grand Texas doesn't interest me at all.
[Audio]CricketsChirping/MadMax'sVastAudioFileCatalog[/audio] Search earthquest on google/news and NO articles pop up at all. Here's the last article referenced on Wiki, which was published just a little over a month after the last post in this thread....I think we can stick a fork in it. This would have construction starting in June 2011 on a vision significantly scaled back from what has been planed....and yet another set back date that I'm guessing will get postponed yet again when there's no construction in June. Every time this group goes to the press with releases to create some buzz it's followed by gigantic periods of nothingness. http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/east...cle_77d711fb-5fd9-5f3f-a27a-16d68f507d70.html Money holds up EarthQuest; investors want re-phased project By TIM WILLERT | 1 comment It’s back to the drawing board for the proposed EarthQuest Adventures project. Literally. The developer told East Montgomery County Investment District board members Nov. 10 the 550-acre mixed-use project, which features a 150-acre dinosaur theme park and museum, must be re-packaged and built in phases in order to secure investors. “We don’t know if we can raise $500 million for a green field project in this market,” Marlin Atlantis CEO John Marlin told the board. Which is why Marlin proposed a redesign that is going to require about $200 million less to get started but will make two potential investors happy. One, Guggenheim Partners, a financial services firm based in New York, would be willing to invest between $200 million and $300 million if the project is re-phased, while a second investor, an unidentified Houston group, is close to committing $85 million to the project, Marlin said. “I feel real good about where we are going,” he said. “I am just as confident today that we can get EarthQuest done.” The first phase of the re-design — the dinosaur theme park and museum - will cost approximately $307 million to build, but will begin generating income and attracting other investors, EMCID President and CEO Frank McCrady said. “This is a model that has worked in other theme park developments,” McCrady said. “As an investor, I think it’s more of a wise decision to take the main development and do it first and then add ancillary development.” The EarthQuest Adventures project will be located at Roman Forest Boulevard and U.S. Highway 59. The second phase of development presented to the board, known as Earth Walk, would include a retail development portion. Additional phasing will include a water park, entertainment center component and hotel component as funding becomes available. “The most important thing is the cost of funds for additional development goes down once construction starts,” McCrady said. “If you have a proven project, you abate some of the risk.” That goes for tenants, too, Marlin told the board. “My guess is that by the time the them park is half done, hotels and retailers will show interest,” he said. As for a new timetable, Marlin told the board it likely would be the end of January before a new package can be presented to investors, and another six months beyond that before construction starts. “That’s a reasonable expectation,” McCrady said. “You can pick a date and we’ll be wrong three times.” Contour Entertainment President Christopher Brown, the project’s master planner and lead designer, presented a preliminary re-phase to board members, letting them know that a $500 million vision and a $300 million reality “is a very different thing.” “We’re trying to make the strongest showing we can,” Brown said, “but it won’t all be there on opening day.” And that’s OK with McCrady. “We’d rather break ground on a theme park than wait for everything to get funded at once,” he said. “Our main interest is ensuring that they get the right partner, the right investor, instead of rushing in and going with the wrong investor.”
I drove to Louisiana via 59N last month and I saw nothing to even hint that there was anything out of the ordinary going on near Roman Forest. No signs, no clearing in the trees, nothing. My money is still on this never happening.
