MILLBROOK - Plans to construct a $30-million water park at the Truro Power Centre have been scrapped.
"The water park project is basicallsy a no go and it's something that we are not going to proceed (with) at this time," Millbrook First Nation chief Robert Gloade said Tuesday.
Plans had been in the works to construct a 30,000-square-foot indoor water park and 100-unit hotel in partnership with the Millbrook First Nations Band, just south of the former Convergys call centre.
The project had been placed on hold in recent years but last February, Glen Squires, the CEO of Pacrim Hospitality Services (which owns the Super 8 Hotel at the power centre) said he expected construction to begin this summer.
Gloade, however, said a sagging economy in the United States prompted the American investor to look away from further investment in the water park industry.
"It's unfortunate because we still feel it is something that could have worked there," the chief said, adding that the band has not entirely given up on development plans on the site.
"We're looking at other developments with a hotel component moving forward instead of the hotel water park," Gloade said, of a revised plan to build a 91-unit hotel there with a different investor.
"We'll hopefully get something going within the year," he said.
A meeting was planned for Tuesday to update progress on the project and Gloade said he hopes to be able to provide more definite information in the near future.
"And we're just waiting on some final details if we are going to proceed. But right now there is a high possibility that we will proceed, it's just a matter of finalizing a few details."
