North America’s leading operator of indoor waterpark resorts has opened new corporate headquarters in Chicago. Great Wolf Resorts is also planning to launch a Great Wolf Lodge outside the city in 2018.
Dubbed Wolf Den Chicago, the new office is located in the Chicago Sun-Times building and opened on April 26. Currently 45 “pack members” are working there, but it has the potential house up to 100 Great Wolf employees. The company was formerly headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin.
Earlier this year, Great Wolf Resorts purchased Key Lime Cove in Gurnee, Illinois, close to Six Flags Great America. A complete transformation of the waterpark resort is planned. It will reopen in 2018 as Great Wolf Lodge Illinois. Design details and resort amenities are still being finalised, but family-friendly attractions, entertainment and lodging will be featured.
The facility will the company’s 17th resort, and the third scheduled to open in the next 18-months. The other two are Great Wolf Lodge Minnesota near the Mall of America in Bloomington, opening later this year, and Great Wolf Lodge Georgia, scheduled to open in La Grange in late spring 2018.
Great Wolf’s growth plans
“We have aggressive growth plans for our brand,” notes Great Wolf Resorts CEO Rubén Rodriguez. “We’re placing a rather large paw print in the Chicago area, not only with our new corporate office, but with a new 414-room resort in Gurnee. Great Wolf Lodge Illinois will feature our latest and greatest guest amenities.”
The mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, has welcomed Great Wolf Resorts’ relocation to the city: “Chicago has the talent and transportation that expanding companies like Great Wolf need to compete in the 21st century economy,” he says. “I look forward to seeing the Wolf Pack continue to grow and thrive in its new den.”
In 2016, the Chicago metro area saw more new and expanding corporate locations than any other area in the US. A total of 350 projects accounted for more than $2.8 billion in investment and almost 14,000 new jobs.
