MANTECA, Calif. — Settled along Highway 120 in a Central Valley town of just under 80,000 people is a project unlike anything the region has seen before.
The Great Wolf Lodge in Manteca is 500-room resort, complete with an indoor water park, a separate adventure park, an outdoor pool, conference rooms and more. And Northern California is just about six months away from it opening.
"This is a game changer for sure," Don Smail, the Manteca Economic Development Manager said. "We're expecting this to really be a regional draw, a regional attraction for families in Manteca and throughout the Northern Valley region here to come either on their way to somewhere else or just to come to Manteca to make that family vacation stop."
The indoor water park alone is said to be the same size as the field at Levi's Stadium, the home of the San Francisco 49ers. And they're looking to hire some 600 people of all skill levels.
"This is a $180 million investment," Smail said. "This is the biggest hotel in the Valley."
But the investment doesn't end there. The goal is to attract more businesses to the area, to support the hundreds of families that will stay here every night.
For example, Smail says the city wants to create a 140-acre "family entertainment zone" across the street, like their own version of a Downtown Disney.
"Where you're not actually going to an amusement park, you're going to a place where there's a cluster of a variety of different dining and entertainment choices, arcade things," he explained. "We really want to make this family entertainment zone a community gathering space over time as it gets improved with other commercial investments and other space out there so it's not just for tourists, it's really for the entire community."
It will cost a pretty penny to spend a night at the Great Wolf Lodge, though. For a standard family suite for four people, prices start at $199 a night. Any additional guests would be an extra $50 per person, with a max of six in the family suites.
But right now, they're running a 30% special discount for stays through December if you book by the end of February.
Still, local parents like Ofrorbuike, a father of three, say they're excited about what this means for the entire community.
"A lot of people are going to move in here, houses are going to go up, a lot of businesses are going to go up," Ofrobuike said. "This is an opportunity we've been waiting for, for a long time."
Follow the conversation on Facebook with Lena Howland.
READ MORE MANTECA NEWS FROM ABC10:
FOR NEWS IN YOUR COMMUNITY, DOWNLOAD THE ABC10 APP:
►Stay In the Know! Sign up now for ABC10's Daily Blend Newsletter