The proposed $150-million indoor water park resort in Surrey has been cancelled

Indoor view of Great Wolf Lodge at Niagara Falls, Canada. (Great Wolf Lodge)

There will not be a Great Wolf Lodge in Surrey.

In spring 2017’s “State of the City” address, Surrey mayor Linda Hepner announced that the Jim Pattison Development Corporation (JDPC) had plans to build a $150-million family-themed resort in South Surrey with a 400-room hotel and major indoor water park. It was a highly sought addition to the municipality given the tourism and economic impact it would generate, including about 600 jobs once open.

Specifically, JDPC was looking at building a resort branded as Great Wolf Lodge, as the Vancouver-based conglomerate owns the exclusive franchise rights for the resort brand in Canada.

But the Surrey project has sunk.

Great Wolf Lodge in Niagara Falls, Canada. (Ledcor)

In an email, Surrey City Development Corporation president Michael Heeney told Daily Hive they were advised last October by JDPC that they were “no longer interested in pursuing a Great Wolf Lodge in Surrey.”

Heeney adds he has not heard from JDPC since, and the reason is unclear.

Daily Hive also reached out to JDPC, but a spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.

Previous reports in 2015 indicated JDPC was considering a Great Wolf Lodge in Squamish, but it is unclear if that location has been chosen instead of Surrey, or if the whole idea of building a resort in the Lower Mainland area has been cancelled.

Aerial view of Great Wolf Lodge in Niagara Falls, Canada. (Ledcor)

JDPC owns and operates the Great Wolf Lodge location next to Niagara Falls – the resort chain’s only location in Canada.

The Niagara Falls resort has a 100,000 sq. ft. indoor water park with slides and wave pool, 406 “themed” hotel rooms, eight restaurant and cafe locations, a bowling alley, arcade, mini-golf course, spas, live entertainment spaces, and programming including roaming costumed characters.

There are currently 15 Great Wolf Lodge locations worldwide, and another three resorts will open in the United States later this year and in 2019.

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