# Loveland whitewater center?



## Jensjustduckie (Jun 29, 2007)

Most likely a developers wet dream, Larimer County and the City of Loveland love to plan things together then the city changes their ideas and the county backs out. At least that's been the M.O. lately.


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## BrianK (Feb 3, 2005)

I've been following this as closely as one can - there just isn't that much information out there on it. The cool thing is that the City of Loveland doesn't have a lot to do with it. The public money is state money, and the private money is coming from the interested principals. 

For those that don't know, this is a bid for a grant from an existing state budget allocation for tourism projects. The overall plan from GO NOCO that was submitted for the tourism grant was narrowed down this summer, but thankfully they kept the whitewater park in the proposal. As far as I can tell it is now down to this proposal from GO NOCO and a proposal from Denver. (A proposal from Durango was eliminated from consideration a couple months ago). In my (biased) opinion the NOCO proposal is much better than the Denver proposal, but I don't get to make those decisions. 

There are a lot of moving pieces and hurdles in the way of this project, but just the thought of a reliable place to paddle in the shoulder seasons in northern Colorado has me very excited. Feel free to mark me down for a season pass.


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## SKeen (Feb 23, 2009)

Sounds like you are referring to the new county building that was supposed to be located in downtown Loveland before the whole thing turned into a debacle. 

And yes, hopefully the WW park won't go the same way. Does anyone have any information on how we can show public support for the project?


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## BrianK (Feb 3, 2005)

This website basically has all the information I can find: WHY Go NoCO?

Scott Shipley is probably the person who would have the most info.


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## storm11 (Feb 10, 2006)

Good luck if they've got S2O working on it. It'll be double the proposed budget and get left half completed.


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## jaffy (Feb 4, 2004)

BrianK said:


> As far as I can tell it is now down to this proposal from GO NOCO and a proposal from Denver.


Does it have to be either the Denver stockshow project or the Loveland whitewater park that gets funded, but not both? My understanding was that RTA allows the Colorado Economic Development Commision to choose to fund either or both of the projects (up to 2 projects per year), but I only read a little bit about it yesterday when a friend of mine told me about this. Is it one or the other?

I think a whitewater park would draw far more tourists than a stockshow, but I may be biased. 



storm11 said:


> Good luck if they've got S2O working on it. It'll be double the proposed budget and get left half completed.


It sounds like you're referencing some project in particular? I haven't heard anything negative about S2O before (although I haven't heard much either way tbh).


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## storm11 (Feb 10, 2006)

Durango / Animas WW Park.


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## BrianK (Feb 3, 2005)

The state voted to fund this project with the whitewater park included!

Go NoCo gets in Colorado's Regional Tourism Act Program

Awesome news.


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## SKeen (Feb 23, 2009)

Yes! Can't wait to see what the timeline for construction completion will be.


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## hojo (Jun 26, 2008)

Another article about it
Major Northern Colorado tourism projects get green light - Loveland Reporter-Herald


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## yak1 (Jan 28, 2006)

Boondoggle


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## BrianK (Feb 3, 2005)

> boondoggle


Sure, but it'll be fun to have if/when it comes together. For better or worse, most large developments get public money, and developers aren't in the business for altruistic reasons. They want to make money. 

If you look at the sources of funds on the PDF this is primarily a private funded venture. The public money bridges the funding gap, but those developers definitely have some skin in the game. Almost $10MM in their own money and $40MM in private debt. Those lenders are going to require personal guarantees. If the project fails the developers will be on the hook for a serious chunk of change. 

Also, the Reporter-Herald article says it will have Class 1-6 rapids. I'm guessing they are going to throw a couple sieves, undercut caves, strainers, and keeper holes in there to create the Class 6 artificial rapids.


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## sarahkonamojo (May 20, 2004)

Oh, man. IMHO:
Regarding the "US Whitewater Adventure Center": Pay to play. This might not be the best thing for Poudre rafting companies. A benefit might be to cut down on heavy traffic in the canyon on the weekends. 
If the 2,200 foot course is designed to Olympic standards, it would be nice if the facility were to include the training and development of athletes in the sport. (No mention of that in any article that I have read.)
I-25. ugh.
Disney. Ugh.
Film center sounds like an interesting project for Estes Park...
Water follows money?

Sarah


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## Jensjustduckie (Jun 29, 2007)

I won't hold my breath until it's done. If it does get completed it will be very, very expensive I'm sure to utilize, the McWhinneys are definitely trying to make a fortune off of the entire I-25/Hwy 34 Corridor. 

I hope it's not just another crappy enterprise making it even harder to get in and out of town, but I won't hold my breath.


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## jaffy (Feb 4, 2004)

I'm hoping for prices similar to USNWC and the one opening in Oklahoma. Season pass relatively cheap, but soak the day users (still cheaper than a day on the river though, if you're paying a raft company).


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## Osseous (Jan 13, 2012)

So does this thing have a raft elevator/locke system- or do you hoof it back to the top?

Sent from my SM-N900V using Mountain Buzz mobile app


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