Wyndham buys Dolce; Great Wolf to air proposal at Planning Comm.; mayor enters private meeting but The Citizen reporter is kicked out
A public hearing on a rezoning request by Great Wolf Lodge Family Resorts to expand the facilities on the 38-acre site currently occupied by the Dolce Atlanta-Peachtree Hotel and Resort on Aberdeen Parkway to include a family-oriented indoor water park is scheduled for Feb. 9 before the Peachtree City Planning Commission.
Meanwhile, the Dolce’s local competitor — the Wyndham Conference Center about a mile to the east — may be about to become the only conference center in town.
The Wyndham Hotel Group announced on Feb. 2 that it had acquired all of Dolce’s properties in North America and Europe.
How that sale ultimately affects the Dolce-Great Wolf proposal has not been publicly announced. A Wyndham official said no immediate changes are expected in the operation of either facility.
“This is a private meeting and Ben is not welcome.” Those were the words of Peachtree City resident John Dufresne, the apparent spokesman for a group of Peachtree City residents prior to a meeting Tuesday night at the Dolce Atlanta-Peachtree Hotel and Resort with representatives of Great Wolf Family Resorts.
The Tuesday night meeting of neighboring subdivisions bordering the Dolce property was about to take place so that neighbors’ questions could be addressed by Great Wolf representatives.
However, Mayor Vanessa Fleisch apparently was welcome. She was seen by the departing reporter entering the private meeting between the homeowners’ association and the Great Wolf representative.
The Citizen reporter was there to attend and report on the meeting that was a precursor to the public hearing on the Great Wolf proposal that will be heard by the Peachtree City Planning Commission on Feb. 9.
Dufresne maintained that the meeting was private and that it had been decided that the news media could not be present.
Rochester and Associates Executive Vice President Brian Rochester, a representative for Great Wolf, approached the area where Dufresne and The Citizen reporter were talking and essentially confirmed the point Dufresne continued to drive home.
With that said, and after checking with the editor, the reporter left the area. The mayor — who does not live in a neighboring subdivision — stayed.
Editor Cal Beverly lives in the neighboring Coventry subdivision. Reporter Ben Nelms lives about a quarter mile east of the proposed water park.
The proposal by Great Wolf Lodge of Georgia LLC requests the rezoning of the 38.4-acre property from GC (general commercial) to LUC (limited use commercial) to redevelop the property. In addition to the indoor water park and hotel, the application states that the property will include specialty restaurants, arcades, spas, fitness rooms and children’s activity areas.
Great Wolf Lodge currently operates 13 family-oriented, all-suites water park resorts. The only facility in the Southeast is located in Concord/Charlotte, N.C.
Wyndham Hotel Group, a subsidiary of Wyndham Worldwide, announced Feb. 2 it had acquired Dolce Hotels and Resorts, a leading provider and manager of group accommodations with a portfolio of 24 properties and over 5,500 guest rooms across seven countries in Europe and North America, for $57 million in cash, according to a company press release.
Dolce Atlanta-Peachtree currently operates the facility that includes 236 rooms and 65 meeting rooms in 178,593 sq. ft. of convention center space along with swimming pools, restaurants and tennis courts. Dolce has reportedly been looking for a buyer for at least two years.
Great Wolf is proposing to operate a family-oriented destination resort operating from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m. each day which would include 398 guest rooms and a total of 173,615 sq. ft. of entertainment, retail, restaurant, meeting and support space.
Beyond the existing hotel and conference center buildings spread throughout the 38-acre property, Great Wolf is proposing to add a 54,800 sq. ft. indoor water park connected to the current conference center, a three-story hotel on the north side of the site, increased parking, two additional stormwater ponds and a possible patio off one of the existing restaurants.
The acquisition of Dolce Hotels and Resorts by the Wyndham Hotel Group announced Feb. 2 means that the company potentially would have two properties in Peachtree City, the Wyndham Peachtree Conference Center on Ga. Highway 54 and the Dolce Atlanta-Peachtree Hotel and Resort on Aberdeen Parkway.
Contacted Monday, the Wyndham Worldwide Vice President for Marketing and Communications Michael Valentino said there are no current plans for any changes in the operation of the two Peachtree City hotels.
“This acquisition (of Dolce properties by the Wyndham Hotel Group) will have no immediate impact to any existing hotel in either the Dolce or Wyndham portfolios. The Peachtree hotels are independently owned franchised properties, and we look forward to growing the Dolce brand in the U.S. and around the world,” Valentino said.
The property on which Dolce is located is owned by Chicago-based Leeward Strategic Properties, Inc. Constructed in 1984, the current fair market value of the property and buildings is $8.155 million, according to the Fayette County Tax Assessor.
The existing Dolce property once housed the national training headquarters of Pitney-Bowes, the postage meter company. It was constructed in the mid 1980s. Dolce paid $30 million for the Aberdeen Woods Conference Center in 2007. What Great Wolf intends to pay for the Dolce has not been disclosed at this point.
The rezoning narrative states that Great Wolf’s architectural theme is based on “lodge” architecture and the entire resort will follow a natural design approach that incorporates preservation of the property’s natural resources and emphasizes low-impact design solutions. Additional parking areas will be well-screened and buffer areas will be maintained or enhanced around the perimeter of the property, according to the plan narrative.
While the property to the west and south include commercial businesses, the property to the east and north includes residential. It is on the north side of the property that Great Wolf is requesting a variance that would reduce the buffer and install a driveway adjacent to a proposed three-story hotel near the single-family homes in the Preston Chase subdivision and the Wisdom Woods Apartments.
Another long-established residential neighborhood — The Coventry, built in 1984 — predates the original Pitney-Bowes training center and lies just across Riley Parkway to the immediate east of the existing Dolce. The Coventry Homeowners Association is expected to oppose the proposal in its current form.
In terms of the economic benefit to the city and county, Great Wolf said property taxes are estimated to total $108,000 while hotel/motel taxes are expected to generate $1.5 million. County property taxes are expected to total $433,000 while county and state sales taxes are estimated at $1.7 million.
As with other Great Wolf facilities, the water park is exclusively reserved for guests, according to the company’s website. Guests with visitors can purchase a limited number of wristbands, valid for one day, at $40 each. Amenities such as restaurants, spas and the interactive MagiQuest game are open to the public, according to the Great Wolf Lodge website.
Elements open to the public at the Peachtree City site would include the Bear Essential retail store, Buckhorn Exchange retail store, Northern Lights Arcade, Howlywood XD Theatre, Bear Paw Cafe, Hungry as a Wolf Pizza, MagiQuest live-action virtual gaming, Howl at the Moon mini-golf, Ten Paw Alley bowling, Loose Moose buffet restaurant, Wood Fire Lodge Grill, Dunkin Donuts, Scoops Children’s Spa, a ropes course and meeting rooms.
The resort is projected to employ up to 500 people during peak operating times.
Peachtree City Manager Jim Pennington said Dolce on its occupational license lists 99 full-time equivalents.
The Great Wolf narrative stated that user demographics typically project five persons traveling from a distance of 200 miles by automobile and staying an average of 2-3 days.
The proposal asked for three variances. Those include reducing the stream buffer, reducing the 75-foot setback and buffer on the north side of the property to 40 feet for the water park building and related use and 20 feet for a proposed access drive and waiving requirements for additional stormwater management facilities for the existing impervious areas.
— Additional reporting by Cal Beverly.
