From Orca Shows to Innkeeper: SeaWorld Eyes Resort Hotel

With its killer whale shows soon to be phased out, SeaWorld is now looking at getting into the hospitality business.

After operating for a half-century, the company has seen its bottom line take quite a beating since the "Blackfish" documentary came out.

But SeaWorld figures it could remake its image, bring back visitors, and rebound financially with a resort hotel that's been in its city master plan since 2002.

"My recollection of that hotel is that it’s limited to 30-feet, a 300-room hotel,” says former City Councilwoman Donna Frye, who represented the 6th District in which SeaWorld is located.

“And I think they are going to pursue it,” Frye told NBC 7 in an interview Tuesday. “It’s a way to make additional revenue that they seem to need right now."

SeaWorld's proposed hotel site is along the Perez Cove shoreline in west Mission Bay.

Under a partnership deal with Evans Hotel Group, the firm could buy one of two hotels that Evans owns on Mission Bay.

But those are old properties, and observers think the company would prefer to have Evans develop one.

SeaWorld would need voter approval to build above the city's 30-foot coastal height limit.

In 1998, as a private citizen, Frye led the opposition that nearly defeated SeaWorld's referendum for an exemption to build its "Journey to Atlantis" ride.

Even at 30 feet, a hotel could get pushback during Council and Coastal Commission approval processes, from environmentalists and construction unions seeking project labor agreements, if they're not negotiated.

"And even neighbors are probably going to take issue with the potential for more development in the area,” says Lisa Halverstadt, who’s covered SeaWorld extensively for NBC 7’s media partner Voice of San Diego.

Other issues that could be raised by opponents, according to Halverstadt: “Lost views, or concerns about what's going to be happening … ‘Is there going to be more traffic in that area?'"

Indications are SeaWorld is in no huge rush for a hotel project.

But once it proceeds, there figures to be a built-in, packaged market among park-goers — more bang for the visitor buck.
 

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