$14 million water park
in the works

The developer hopes to
attract 600,000 tourists a year and
employ up to 300 residents

By Rick Daysog
Star-Bulletin

A California-based company plans to develop a $14 million water-amusement park to be called the Waters at Kapolei.

Harrington Investments LLC has signed a letter of intent with landowner the Estate of James Campbell to develop a 24-acre parcel on vacant land across Farrington Highway from the Kapolei Theatres, said Dave Busch, president of Gold River, Calif.-based Horizon Amusement Group, a partner in Harrington.

Busch said yesterday that Harrington hopes to finalize a lease agreement by October and open the project by spring 1999. He declined to disclose the proposed lease terms.

The project will be the first of its type in Hawaii: a large-scale water amusement park with rides that rival those at major theme parks like Disney World in Orlando and Magic Mountain in Southern California, according to David Busch, president of Horizon Amusement Group, one of Harrington's investors.

The water park likely will include more than 12 huge water slides, a 250-foot-long pool that creates artificial waves and an activity pool for children dubbed Captain Cooke's Lagoon, Busch said. Plans also call for a slow raft ride along a 1,200-foot-long artificial river, complete with waterfalls and tropical decor.

The developers initially hope to draw about 400,000 visitors a year, including about 275,000 local residents, according to Busch. Horizon hopes to attract about 600,000 visitors annually after five years, with tourists making up half of the attendance and local residents the other half, he said.

The entertainment complex will employ about 300 workers during the peak summer season and about 150 people during the off season, he added.

Horizon Amusement -- which is unrelated to Dole Cannery's developer Horizon Group Inc. -- will serve as the developer and operator of the Kapolei water park. The project's designer is Aquatic Design Group, of Carlsbad, Calif., which helped develop the Typhoon Lagoon at Disney World as well as the water rides at Magic Mountain, Busch said.

The project, on land zoned for agricultural use, will require a conditional-use permit, according to David Rae, manager of community and government services for Campbell Estate.

The proposed project comes after a previous effort by local amusement entrepreneur Kane Fernandez and developer Robert Gerell fell through.

Fernandez and Gerell, who launched their plan in 1994, weren't able to raise $18 million to build the project, prompting Campbell Estate to put the development out for bid in May.

Founded in 1986, Horizon Amusement previously owned and operated seven water amusement parks before selling them to various operators.

The company last year sold two of its parks in Northern California -- Waterworld/USA in Sacramento and Waterworld/USA Concord -- to Oklahoma-based Premier Parks Inc. for about $17.3 million.