KENNEWICK -- Two Tri-City men say they're a step closer this week to building a water park in Kennewick.
Mike Hillman of Kennewick and Dave Schlotthauer of Pasco said Wednesday that they'll sign a $1.4 million purchase agreement Friday for the eight acres needed to build the first phase of the Shark Reef Water Park.
They plan a news conference Friday.
Shark Reef is scheduled to open in spring 2011 in the Southridge area of Kennewick, off Highway 395.
Hillman said they now plan to break ground in November, so the park will be finished near the expected May 2011 opening date.
Initially, the brothers-in-law, who own Kennewick's Columbia Basin Satellite, planned to start construction this summer but decided the park would be finished too early to open.
The water park is expected to feature a bowl slide, three inner tube slides, three speed slides, multilane mat races, a giant children's area with slides and water guns, a lazy river, a wave channel and other features.
Hillman and Schlotthauer have said they have the financial backing they need to start the $5 million first phase. Their plans include a $10 million second phase to open the summer of 2013 that will expand the park to 15 acres.
Jim Hale of Orlando, Fla., has also applied for a special permit to build a water park in Pasco.
The Pasco Planning Commission recently held a public hearing on the permit for Bahama Bay Water Park in west Pasco, and is to make a recommendation Feb. 18 to the city council.
Hale told the planning commission he's still working on the financing for his park.
-- Kristi Pihl: 509-582-1512; kpihl@tricityherald.com
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