Move over, Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX). Step aside, Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN). There's a new growth beast in the Seattle area and, my, what big teeth it has!
Great Wolf Resorts (NASDAQ:WOLF) announced that its newest lodge will be breaking ground in Washington on a 39-acre parcel of land provided by the Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis. In return for the land, located right off the I-5 freeway between Portland and Seattle, the tribe will receive a minority interest in the venture.
This deal isn't all that unlike the one Great Wolf brokered with Viacom (NYSE:VIA), which now has the company building one of its massive resorts on Paramount property adjacent to the popular Kings Island amusement park.
Great Wolf now has four new resorts set to open before the end of next year. That is quite the growth kick for a company that opened just its sixth resort three months ago.
That's why I had no problem recommending the stock earlier this year to Rule Breakers newsletter subscribers. In an industry dominated by the predictable, boxy hospitality of lodging giants like Marriott (NYSE:MAR) and Starwood (NYSE:HOT), Great Wolf's got curves -- and they're weaving in and out of the resort's year-round enclosed water parks.
Indoor water parks may have started as a hokey attempt to attract guests in the inn-riddled Wisconsin Dells, but their popularity is growing. There are now more than 40 indoor water parks in the country beyond the two dozen in Wisconsin. Some are cheap add-ons. Some are modest municipal aquatic centers. For investors, the real draws are the select resorts that are so dynamic, they become a vacation destination themselves.
Great Wolf is leading the way on that front, tapping virgin markets with plenty of real estate left to conquer. Privately held Kalahari is another worthy player, and even amusement park operator Cedar Fair (NYSE:FUN) got into the action when it opened its own indoor water-park resort next to its Cedar Point park back in November.
With family travel on the rise, how cool is it that Great Wolf is providing weather-proof vacations? That's just what the rainy Northwest needs.
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Checking in? Why not check out these related reads:
- I'm not the only one taking a look at Great Wolf these days.
- Water parks have come a long way.
- The deal with Viacom was a winner with Wall Street.
Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz thinks Kurt Cobain would have liked Great Wolf. It was, after all, an infant chasing money in a swimming pool on the cover of the band's Nevermind CD. His portfolio fancies thrills -- he owns shares in Great Wolf as well as units in Cedar Fair.The Fool has a disclosure policy. He is also part of theRule Breakersnewsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early.
