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Kalahari Resort on Way to Poconos

TOBYHANNA TOWNSHIP — Developers formally submitted a plan for a massive resort in the Poconos Thursday night. The $350 million plan is called Kalahari Res...

TOBYHANNA TOWNSHIP -- Developers formally submitted a plan for a massive resort in the Poconos Thursday night.

The $350 million plan is called Kalahari Resort and includes an indoor and outdoor water park, the largest in North America, and a 1,200 room hotel and a convention center.

Developers outlined their plans before the Tobyhanna Township Planning Commission.

"This is the preliminary submission of this plan. We have reviewed sketch plans of the project and have given them preliminary input. Now it's going in for a formal review," explained Mark Sincavage, commission chairman.

There are other indoor water parks in the Poconos already, including Great Wolf Lodge and Split Rock Resort, but Kalahari Resort would be the largest.

Developers said they expect work on the first phase of the project to create 1,200 construction jobs with 700 more full and part-time jobs when the resort opens.

The Waldrons traveled to the Tobyhanna Township meeting from Wilkes-Barre.

Dave Waldron works for a concrete company and is looking for opportunities.

"It's mammoth, it's going to be great for the area. It's going to bring a whole lot of other business," said Waldron.

"I think it will be great for the children, for the families, a lot more things to do in the Poconos," agreed Colleen Waldron.

Kalahari developers said they have submitted permits for the project and have completed a traffic study.

There is still much to do, but they said they hope to break ground this April and have the first phase of the project open in November of 2014.

The entire project is broken into three phases.

The first phase includes the water park, convention center space and 450 hotel rooms.

Kalahari Resort is a Wisconsin-based company with two other locations, one in Wisconsin and one in Ohio.

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