After years of hype, a giant indoor waterpark and resort opens soon in Spotsylvania. Here’s what you need to know

Driving through Spotsylvania County on Interstate 95, the new Kalahari resort is hard to miss.

Scheduled to open Nov. 12, Kalahari’s primary appeal is its sheer number of amenities, all of which are located within the hotel. The resort chain’s trademark is its giant indoor waterpark, and Virginia’s will have more than 50 waterslides, as well as an adults-only swim-up bar.

The $900 million, 1.38-million square foot resort also includes a hotel with more than 900 guest rooms, an adventure park – with rides, a ropes course, go-karts and over 250 arcade games – a convention center, and several retail and restaurant facilities. 

This is the company’s fifth location nationally, all “African-inspired” in their decor. Located just off I-95, the resort advertises convenient distances from Richmond, Charlottesville, Washington, D.C. and “many other East Coast metropolitan areas.”

It’s being described as a game changer for the state, with impacts that will be felt in Richmond.

Kevin Marshall, who directs Spotsylvania’s Economic Development Authority, said the company initially looked at building in Virginia nearly two decades ago, announcing plans to build a $200 million resort in Fredericksburg. However, funding fell short during the recession and the project was nixed. 

Marshall noted that Kalahari had previously tried to put the resort in a different area in Spotsylvania in the years following the Fredericksburg attempt, but “backed off after running into access issues.” Despite the setback, Marshall convinced the company’s site selector to return and look at the current location, with evident success. They applied for commercial rezoning in July 2022 and broke ground in October 2023.

A new tourism destination

Brian Shanle, Kalahari Virginia’s general manager, said that as of early June, there were already “over 175 (group and business) bookings, including the Governor’s Conference on Tourism (with) over 500 rooms booked.” 

He described single-family bookings as “solid,” with a one-night stay for two adults and two children currently starting at $415, a price that includes waterpark access. Pricing goes up to $2,323 for presidential suites that sleep up to 12.

The Governor’s Conference will be the hotel’s first major event, starting six days after the resort opens. 

Eric Terry, Association President of the Virginia Restaurant, Lodging & Travel Association, said in mid-June that he and others involved with the conference were given “a hard hat walkthrough” several weeks prior, and they have no concerns about the resort’s progress or ability to start operations on time. 

Terry added that they chose Kalahari because the conference is “always looking for whatever the newest and most exciting tourism in the state is,” and Kalahari fit the bill.

Will it eat into the GRCC’s business?

Despite the proximity to the Greater Richmond Convention Center, Kalahari’s Shanle said the resort’s business model as an “all-in-one location” differs greatly from the convention center, and he believes the resort will “add to as opposed to take from” potential tourism business. 

Nate Harris, the Greater Richmond Convention Center’s general manager, echoed that sentiment, saying he doesn’t expect the resort to hurt the Convention Center’s business. 

He said the two venues’ distinct locations will allow them to attract different types of events – especially given that GRCC is the largest continuous event space available in the region at 700,000 square feet, while Kalahari measures 150,000 square feet – and that Kalahari could potentially prove beneficial for Richmond tourism as out-of-towners will likely fly into Richmond International Airport. 

“It’s a really exciting time for our region,” Harris said.

Economic impact

In 2023, Marshall said the resort was expected to create over 1,400 full- and part-time permanent positions – with the goal being to hire as many local residents as possible – as well as “stimulate economic growth through increased tax revenue.” 

A spokesperson for the resort said they expect to have more than “1,000 full and part-time positions hired locally in the Spotsylvania area” by opening day. Shanle noted that during construction, “on any given day, (they) have 700 to 800 local workers.”

The county expects $6.8 million in tax revenue within the first year. Marshall emphasized the company isn’t receiving a tax refund or tax break. 

“Even if Kalahari built that facility, and never opened the doors, because there was no rebate on the real estate tax, it was still gonna be financially positive for Spotsylvania County,” he said.

The company, county and EDA have a performance-based agreement, rather than an incentive agreement, a distinction Marshall called “a win.” 

Unlike an incentive agreement, which provides benefits up front, a performance-based agreement requires the company to meet certain benchmarks before receiving them. Kalahari’s final performance agreement was signed in 2022 after being approved for funding from Virginia’s Tourism Development Financing Program, which allows major tourism projects to keep or use certain tax revenues it generates to help pay for construction costs. 

Under the agreement, Kalahari must generate a set amount of revenue each year and pay its taxes in full before the county returns a predetermined percentage of certain tax revenues to it. 

In addition to jobs, the resort is expected to significantly boost tourism, both to Spotsylvania County and to Virginia. As of July 1, the project has close to $1 billion in capital investment.

Concerns: prices, water, traffic

While many have expressed excitement about the new resort, other residents have voiced their concerns.

Several have asked about discounts for locals, with one person writing online that the resort’s prices would make staying there near-impossible otherwise. 

Kalahari said the resort will offer day passes – the waterpark only, the adventure park only, and a combo pass – which will allow people to use the resort’s facilities without having to pay for an overnight stay. A spokesperson said pricing will be similar to other locations, where all-day waterpark passes range from $70 to $95, adventure park passes from $45 to $50, and combo passes from $105 to $135.

Marshall said he and his staff have been tracking concerns that residents have voiced, and asserted that they have nothing to worry about regarding water and traffic. 

While he acknowledged there will be more overall vehicles moving through the area, he said they won’t all be arriving and exiting at the same time. He added that the county had hoped to get a traffic light, but didn’t qualify for one based on the state’s traffic impact analysis.

As for water, both Marshall and Shanle said they understood the concerns about water usage, but that there was a misconception about the “massive” amount the resort would use as a water park. Both men emphasized that Kalahari would be reusing their water with “state-of-the-art systems.” 

Marshall said that when the resort needs to refill its water, they are required to do so outside of “peak hours” when people are getting ready for work or getting ready for bed. 

According to Spotsylvania’s Kalahari FAQ page, Kalahari’s estimated daily average water demand will be 229,000 gallons, with a max of 413,000 gallons. The page also states that the hotel rooms are projected to have the most daily water usage, at 47% of that amount, while the waterpark is estimated to use 19%. 

As a Spotsylvania native, Marshall acknowledged the county isn’t known for being “a top tourism destination.” However, he said they’re on the way there – currently, their biggest attractions are Dominion Raceway and Lake Anna State Park – and the county hopes Kalahari will really put them on the map, as well as become a beneficial addition to the community overall.

“When it's, you know, 19 degrees outside, and it's 4 inches of snow, how nice is it to be able to go hang out in the indoor wave pool at Kalahari?” he said. “That’s never been an option for anyone around here. Now, it will be.”

Contact Intern Haidyn Brockelman at hbrockelman@richmonder.org.