The company that proposed to bring a water park and aquarium to Massillon submitted a letter to Mayor Kathy Catazaro-Perry on Thursday about choosing another site for the project.

BY CHRISTINA McCUNE,



Amy L. Knapp AND



STEVEN M. GRAZIER



Independent staff writers



MASSILLON The company that announced in March it wanted to bring a multimillion-dollar water park and aquarium to the city said Thursday in a letter to the mayor it will pursue plans outside the city because the process was taking too long.



Rex Ferguson, co-founder of Hammond Aqualife, who is originally from Massillon, said Thursday that he pulled for the city during an all-night conversation with a group of American investors, and international partners involved in various aspects of the proposed project.



Last month, the company scrapped the original notion of leasing 22 acres of the property at $10 for 30 years to build the approximately $50 million water park/aquarium and gave a letter of intent to purchase the golf course. The golf course is about 275 acres at 2100 Augusta Drive SE.



“The other partners realized this would be a protracted process in determining valuation,” Ferguson said. “We were going to offer above market value for that golf course. We were going to recapitalize it. I could no longer convince the other partners involved. Especially with five other communities ready to roll.”



Mayor Kathy Catazaro-Perry said she suspected Aqualife had “a change of heart” and was looking elsewhere to build the park.



“We entertained their dream and made them a fair (lease) offer,” the mayor said. “They seem like great gentlemen with a great idea.”



Ferguson said he did not have permission from other communities to reveal other sites where the water park may be located, but he said the locations are in Northeast Ohio.



Councilwoman Michelle Del Rio Keller, D-at large, who chairs the parks and recreation committee, was not surprised by Hammond’s decision but questions the company’s change of heart.



Hammond officials, Del Rio Keller said, were adamant the water park/aquarium needed to be in Massillon, on the golf course and near U.S. Route 30. Also, the location was the best for the mammals that would be housed at the facility, she said.



Del Rio Keller had not seen the letter from Hammond but was aware of it.



“I think it is unfortunate the way the last couple of weeks have gone,” she said. “They found us and came to us. We felt we did everything we could to meet with them and get the message out there. They simply never followed up on their end.”



The councilwoman wishes them the best of luck and hopes they can find the right place to build their project.



Ferguson said there was an official offer for the property weeks ago. He said he and Fidel Junco, founder of Hammond Aqualife, offered $1 million in cash and $12 million dispersed over 12 years.



City officials said they never received a written offer that included a price for the golf course. Catazaro-Perry said the $1 million figure was verbally discussed by Hammond, but city officials were waiting for a “concrete offer.”



“I know the city has had bad business experiences in the past,” Ferguson said. “There were a lot of demands and a structured contract. We would have to assume every bit of the risk. There are a lot of people involved and there are few people who can build these structures. There are people waiting. The other communities are looking at us. Since the process in Massillon was taking so long ... at the end of the day it just didn’t work out.”



Ted Herncane, the city’s community development director, said Aqualife might not have anticipated the resistance from many residents or the slower pace in which government moves when it approached city officials about the project. Government has meetings, public hearings, consideration of legislation and votes prior to going forward with new projects, he added.



“Dealing with a local government is different than dealing with the private sector,” said Herncane, noting that the city had no money invested in the water park project.



“We’re out nothing, only some time and sleep,” he added.



Ferguson said he was aware some people didn’t want the complex in Massillon, but he believes the vast majority wanted it.



A couple hundred residents attended meetings over the past couple of months voicing their opinions.



Matt Creamer, a resident who lives near the golf course, said he did not have a good feeling about the project from the beginning and is glad to see the water park will be built in another location.



“I think the citizens of Massillon needed to be skeptical of a company that came in to promise a grandiose project of $52 million and yet they don’t have a PowerPoint presentation to show the citizens, and they don’t have models to scale to show the citizens what it’s going to look like,” Creamer said. “They couldn’t answer the questions that we asked. To me, that’s a red flag warning sign.”