Grand Texas theme park deal finalized in East Montgomery County

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas -- According to the East Montgomery County Improvement District board, the deal to purchase over 600 acres of land on FM 242 in the vicinity of Highway 59 in New Caney, was officially finalized July 8. Astroworld's longest-serving general manager will be in charge of a planned theme and water park scheduled to open sometime in 2015. Chuck Hendrix's company, Innovative Leisure Partners, and a group of investors announced Monday they purchased a 640-acre plot of land outside of New Caney and plan to break ground on "Grand Texas" by the end of the year.

The full-ride package for the first phase of the park will be decided within the next seven to eight months. Hendrix said the full 640 acres will be built in phases over the next 10 years with plans for hotels, an amphitheater and possibly an RV resort park. The services of the Stephen F. Austin University's forestry program will be enlisted to ‘fold the park into the woods.’ The plan is to use the trees as natural screens around the different attractions and rides, rather than just clear-cutting the entire area.

Representatives from the Grand Texas theme park project including Chairman, Max Bachrach, and project lead, Monty Galland, presented their project information to the East Montgomery County Improvement District board on Thursday, February 14th. Grand Texas has chosen their site in EMC and has the property under contract and expects to close by April 30th with an opening date of March 12, 2015.

Andy Dill, President of the East Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce stated publicly, “We are very excited to learn the details of the Grand Texas project and look forward to working with Matt and Monty as this project goes forward. This will be a great tourism draw for our area, create jobs, and help keep East Montgomery County moving forward economically.”

The multi-faceted project will include a 120 acre Texas style theme park, Big River Water Park, 8,000 seat Amphitheater, Baseball Park seating between 6,000 and 12,000 and numerous other attractions. The additional attractions will include a 10 acre paintball complex, Flint Ranch Agra entertainment area, 363,000 square feet of entertainment, dining and retail along with an upscale 200-400 room hotel, smaller hotels with between 175-200 rooms, 11,300 square foot reception hall and wedding chapel, and four stand-alone restaurants.

The complex is expected to attract more than 1.4 million visitors a year and will bring 1,328 construction jobs over the next three years. Additionally there will be opportunities for 1,325 new employees in East Montgomery County beginning in 2015. There will be parking for 4,500 vehicles. The total investment in the project is between $205 and $205 million with an annual economic impact of $334 million.

For more information read the Conroe Today article of February 21, 2013, when this story was first reported…Grand Texas theme park targeted to open in March 2015