Indian Tribe Gets Approval For Resort Hotel

The Chehalis tribe's efforts to bring a hotel, indoor water park and convention center to South Sound gained momentum Friday after the tribe received approval from the federal government for its proposed resort site.

The site, a 43-acre property near Interstate 5 Exit 88, has been designated federal trust land by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

That designation gives the Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation jurisdiction over the property instead of Thurston County, according to Jeff Warnke, a spokesman for the tribe.

It also paves the way for the tribe to finalize negotiations for construction of Great Wolf Lodge, an estimated $85 million to $90 million project that would include a hotel, indoor water park and a convention center.

"This is the largest project that the tribe has undertaken," he said.

The tribe expects to wrap up negotiations with its codeveloper, Great Wolf Resorts of Wisconsin, by the end of the month and then begin work in September for a late 2007 opening, Warnke said.

Negotiations center on the management structure of the partnership between the Chehalis and Great Wolf Resorts, Warnke said.

The majority of the building costs will be financed through bank loans, he added.

Once completed, the 300-room hotel, 50,000-square-foot indoor water park and 30,000-square-foot convention center could employ up to 450 seasonal and full-time workers.

Combined with the 534 employees who already work for the Chehalis tribe's Lucky Eagle Casino, it would make the tribe the fourth largest employer in the county, jumping ahead of Capital Medical Center and the Tumwater School District, according to the Thurston County Economic Development Council.

July 8, 2006
Posted By Terry Goodwin
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