Surf Coaster for sale, didn't even open last summer

Hopes remain for creation of indoor water park and hotel

Got a few mil lying around? You could own your own water park. And with a few more million, you could start something special for The Weirs and the region.

On January 22 of last year, the consortium that owns Surf Coaster, USA waterpark received a set of variances from the Zoning Board of Adjustment that would allow for the creation of a hotel on the property. With the city's approval, majority owner Rick Hassler, working with Coldwell-Banker realtor Ernie Millette, set out to find investors. After a year of trying, Hassler asked Millette to officially list the 13.2-acre property for sale, with an asking price of $3.75-million.

Hassler said he's owned the Surf Coaster property for six years, and it lost money every year. He didn't even open the business in the summer of 2007. "I definitely would have lost money," he said.

Hassler's primary business is an office equipment company, Duplitron, Inc., based in Brockton, Mass. He might be looking to cut his losses at this point, but the idea — a hotel with an indoor, four-season water park – lives on.

Tourism activity in The Weirs isn't what it once was, Hassler said. That remark echoes a recently released market study that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) prepared for the city. One of the study's five major conclusions is: "The conversion of weekly rental properties into second homes has led to declining use of seasonal tourist attractions and has changed the nature of visitor-serving businesses in the city."

In other words, many of the cottages that once were rented by a family for a week are now owned as condos and used as vacation homes. The end result is that one family that stays in the condo all summer will make fewer trips to attractions such as Surf Coaster than the several families who would stay at the cottage over the course of a summer when it was rented out for a week at a time.

Planning Director Shanna Saunders agreed wholeheartedly with that assessment. City officials like her and a representative of the local business community thought that, if Surf Coaster could be turned into a hotel of sorts that it would "fill that void," Saunders said, and provide a "gateway to the Weirs" for tourists. The Surf Coaster property is ideal, she added, because it has views of the surrounding mountains and Lake Winnipesaukee, and it is within walking distance of Weirs Beach and its attractions.

"We have no shortage of need for hotel space. Something that could hold conferences would be good as well," said Theresa Pinto Lamson, executive director of the Greater Laconia-Weirs Chamber of Commerce. The Weirs could use a hotel as well as a four season attraction "It's a good blend."

The concept of indoor water parks is more than words and dreams, though. A Madison, Wisc. based company called Great Wolf Lodge owns and operates ten hotel/indoor water parks, in places like Washington state, Virginia, and across the border in Ontario, Canada. That company is currently building three more. A Sheraton in Danvers, Mass. has added a 60,000 square-foot indoor water park. Closer to home, the Red Jacket Mountain View Resort in North Conway is planning to open "Kahuna Laguna," a 45,000 square-foot indoor water park, at the end of this month.

The 13.2-acre property, located at 1085 White Oaks Road, is in fact three lots, and the lots fall within three districts: Commercial Resort, Residential Single Family, and Residential Rural I. Each of those three zones comes with its own set of acceptable uses, and each comes with its own dimensional requirements, such as setbacks from other lots. However, when Hassler went before the ZBA last year, he received a use variance that would allow a hotel on the two non-commercial lots. He also received area variances that apply the dimensional requirements of the Commercial Resort Zone to be applied to the other lots, but only if the other lots are used for a hotel.

Those interviewed agreed that an indoor water park would be unique because it would be open throughout the year, and visitors could count on a good time without fear of weather spoiling the fun.

Saunders said those variances would transfer to the new owner should Hassler find a buyer for the property. A water park would be permitted, she said, but only if the park is perceived by the Planning Board to be accessory to the hotel, and that the hotel is seen as the primary use of the property.

The three lots have 580-feet of frontage on Rte 11-B, and about 1,500-feet on White Oaks Road. The lots are arranged on the eastern side of White Oaks Road, and the ZBA's area variances stipulate that the southernmost of the three lots, which borders residential development, be used to fulfill the green space requirements of any future developments.