Legoland math adds up for Lake Wales too

Do the math. Combine 40,000,000 Lego Bricks, with 85,000,000 yearly Florida visitors, and it’s easy to see why area business leaders are excited about this week’s announcement that Legoland Florida will set up shop just miles north of Lake Wales.

Construction of a new theme park at the former water skiing showplace adds up to a major financial plus for area businesses and additional jobs for local workers.

Lake Wales businesses are poised to take advantage of the Legoland takeover of Cypress Gardens. Thousands of pre- and post- construction jobs will be created at the 150-acre attraction.

Governor Charlie Crist and State Senator J.D. Alexander heard officials from the United Kingdom's Merlin Entertainments discuss plans to add an amusement park during Thursday's press conference at the shuttered park.

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Plans call for Merlin to create a place where Legos are king, with rides and interactive attractions geared toward children ages two to 12, using 40 million of the interlocking plastic blocks. The company will add to its portfolio of 60 other attractions, located on three continents.

Polk County controls a 30-acre section of the botanical gardens, which Merlin representatives promised to keep intact.

Linda Brann-Heier, general manager at the Lake Wales Bob Evans Restaurant, said visitors to the international attraction will put people in the seats of local restaurants.

She estimated that business dropped at Bob Evans by about 10 percent, and the number of new hiring has been static, after the landmark attraction most recently closed its doors.

"They'll come from the south and north and the east and west," exclaimed Brann-Heier. "It will attract a tremendous amount of people to the area."

Melissa Woodward is the sales manager at the Lake Wales Hampton Inn. She agreed with her business counterpart across U.S. Highway 27. She anticipated that construction workers will stay in local hotels for weeks at a time, until the projected late-2011 reopening of the park.

"And after it's built, people will flock to the area," said Woodward, about an influx of overnight guests she expects at the hotel.

Betty Wojcik, Lake Wales Area Chamber of Commerce CEO, said that Legoland will benefit other area attractions and the real estate market.

Lake Wales Economic Development Director Harold Gallup, noted that any new major tourist attraction is positive.

"Those tourist dollars from Cypress Gardens had evaporated and now it will be replaced by something newer, different and more attractive," said Gallup.

Alexander told the audience about a Bartow High School Class trip. His senior class got off the train at Grand Central Station, in New York City, and when the students looked up, they saw a huge painting of Cypress Gardens.

"Cypress Gardens is the identity of the region," said Alexander. "We thumped our chests and said, 'I'm from there.’ "

Dick Pope Sr. created the park during the Depression era. The park and gardens most recently closed in September of 2009. It was a double body blow to the Ridge, after Winter Haven also in 2008 lost Major League Baseball spring training when the Cleveland Indians moved to Arizona.

Cypress Gardens, which originally opened in 1936, has been protected since 2004 by state-owned conservation easements that protect 30 acres of botanical gardens and leave 120 acres available for attractions and other tourism-related businesses. The gardens will be maintained by Legoland, officials said Thursday.

For all the pageantry surrounding Legoland's arrival, its success is by no means assured.

In the tourism business, location is a crucial factor. And the former site of the botanical garden in Winter Haven is "somewhat of an odd place" to put a Legoland, said Dennis Speigel, president of International Theme Park Services, a Cincinnati-based consultant.

"This is not going to be a cakewalk, that's for sure," Speigel said.

Located in a county with a population of about 600,000, Legoland won't have a large pool of people in the immediate area from which to draw local traffic, though Merlin no doubt hopes it will be able to lure residents from Orlando and Tampa as well. Tapping into Orlando's tourist traffic is no sure thing, either, as the park is at least a 45-minute drive from Walt Disney World and even farther from Universal Orlando and SeaWorld Orlando.

Its geography — along with a staid roster of attractions — is a big reason why Cypress Gardens was plagued with poor attendance for years. The historic park endured multiple closures and failed reinvention attempts during the past decade, shutting most recently in September, when its former owner declared they had "exhausted every possible approach" to keep it open.

"People who come to Orlando have a pretty full plate," Speigel said. "To jump in a car, drive a couple of hours, it has to be really special."

Like Cypress Gardens, Legoland's other U.S. park is not in a big city. But unlike Winter Haven, Carlsbad, Calif., is directly off an interstate highway — and it is midway between two even larger metro markets, Los Angeles and San Diego.

Still, Merlin has a lengthy track record. And Legoland is a coveted property because of its appeal to families with young children.

"No question, knowing Merlin as we do ... they've considered all of these factors," Speigel said. "They know what they're dealing with in terms of the location."

(McClatchy-Tribune Information Services contributed to this report.)

Canadian Niagara Hotels Inc. to Build New Hotel Complex Decision brings new jobs, development and tourists to Niagara Falls

Canadian Niagara Hotels Inc. to Build New Hotel Complex Decision brings new jobs, development and tourists to Niagara Falls

The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) has renewed the lease of Casino Niagara at its current location on Falls Avenue. The lease extension is for an additional 15 years, showing the Provincial Government's confidence in the future of Niagara Falls. This commitment creates stability and certainty on which economic development and job creation can be built.
Niagara Falls, ON (PRWEB) January 23, 2010 -- Today brings great news for the city of Niagara Falls and the Falls Avenue Entertainment Complex.
The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) has renewed the lease of Casino Niagara at its current location on Falls Avenue. The lease extension is for an additional 15 years, showing the Provincial Government's confidence in the future of Niagara Falls. This commitment creates stability and certainty on which economic development and job creation can be built.

“I am excited that we have this opportunity to bring hospitality & tourism jobs into the much needed private sector in Niagara Falls”, DiCienzo said.

The 300 room 30 floor Hotel with a Falls view will be the first All-Suites Hotel in the Falls Avenue / Clifton Hill area.

The New Development will be physically connected to Casino Niagara, the Fallsview Indoor Waterpark, the Crowne Plaza Fallsview and other Falls Avenue venues including the many restaurants and attractions within the complex. This addition will bring new customers and growth opportunities to the existing businesses in the surrounding Niagara area.

“We will be moving quickly and expect to have shovels in the ground this year,” DiCienzo added. The new hotel is scheduled to open in 2012.

During its construction phase the new development is expected to involve many local construction firms, and other trade workers. Once complete, the hotel will create 250 direct, permanent full-time hospitality & tourism related jobs.

Expressing his support for the project, Niagara Falls Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) Kim Craitor stated, “it is now clear that by keeping his promise to maintain two casinos in Niagara Falls, Premier McGuinty has not just saved thousands of local jobs, he has actually helped create even more jobs and investment”.

“Today is a great day for tourism and jobs in Niagara,” Niagara Falls Mayor Ted Salci added.

Canadian Niagara Hotels Inc. is a Niagara Falls based family owned business. It’s operations include: The Sheraton on the Falls Hotel & Convention Centre, The Crowne Plaza Niagara Falls - Fallsview, Days Inn at the Falls, Skyline Inn, Hampton Inn by Hilton at the Falls and numerous restaurants including the Hard Rock Cafe, Planet Hollywood, the Rainforest Cafe, Perkins and three Starbucks as wells as retail establishments such as the Hershey’s Story, the World Wide Entertainment (WWE) Store, and MGM Studios Plaza.

UNEMPLOYMENT DATA: Jobs report only part of story

UNEMPLOYMENT DATA: Jobs report only part of story

Official says number of 'distressed' workers probably close to 25 percent

By JENNIFER ROBISON

LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Sure, December's jobless numbers look bleak.But Friday's official unemployment numbers seem positively rosy once you factor in discouraged workers who've surrendered the job hunt and part-timers who want full-time positions.



Nevada's unemployment rate surged from 12.3 percent in November to 13 percent in December, the state Department of Employment, Training & Rehabilitation said Friday. In Las Vegas, joblessness jumped from 12.1 percent to 13.1 percent.

Include discouraged workers and part-timers, though, and broader joblessness could be approaching 25 percent, said Bob Potts, assistant director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

"Workers who have lost their benefits, workers who are on furlough days, someone who was in construction making $25 or $30 an hour and now helps in a school kitchen making $8 an hour -- they're all distressed workers," Potts said. "A quarter of our employment base is distressed."

Since employment in Nevada peaked in May 2007, job losses have visited every category save one: the combined education and health services grouping. Construction has felt the biggest pinch, with 71,600 jobs gone. The leisure and hospitality industry is a distant second, with 44,100 positions lost. In December, 176,000 Nevadans were out of work, including 128,200 Las Vegans.

Blame the December doldrums in particular on slower-than-average retail hiring and sizable cuts in resort employment. Nevada's retailers hired 3,000 seasonal workers from October to December, just half of the 6,000 holiday staffers they normally retain. And even with the December opening of the 12,000-employee CityCenter, the leisure and hospitality sector cut 3,900 jobs, most of them in Las Vegas.

"The opening of CityCenter, though very welcome and positive, just doesn't offset all the negative forces that are in play in terms of consumer spending, in terms of foreclosure activity and in terms of job losses," said Bill Anderson, chief economist for the state's employment department. "Those kinds of forces are still in play."

In fact, resorts have slashed tens of thousands of jobs in recent years despite long-term growth. Since resort employment peaked at 276,100 in June 2007, several major hotel-casinos have come online, including Encore, Palazzo, Aliante Station, M Resort and CityCenter. Yet, employment in the leisure and hospitality sector, which also includes arts, entertainment and restaurants, has fallen to 242,600 workers.

Brian Gordon, a principal in the local research firm Applied Analysis, said hotel-casinos pared work forces as visitor volume and discretionary spending slid. Properties have become more efficient, and the employees left behind handle bigger work loads. That new operating paradigm isn't likely to reverse until managers see at least a few quarters of increased demand, and even then, they'll be cautious about adding too many employees, Gordon said.

Anderson doesn't expect a quick turnaround in the state's employment situation, either.

"Despite the length and depth of the downturn, Nevada's job market will likely worsen in the months ahead," he said.

Anderson told the Economic Forum, a group of business leaders who met Friday to discuss state revenue forecasts, that Nevada would lose nearly 90,000 more jobs in 2010 and 2011. Observers also say joblessness in 2010 could exceed September's record of 13.3 percent statewide and 13.9 percent in Las Vegas.

Potts said he expects the "biggest shock" in jobless numbers to come in March, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics reconfigures its numbers based on quarterly Census data (current numbers come from sampling and surveys).

"When they rebase those numbers, we will see numbers more dramatic than we've seen," Potts said.

Gordon added that it's difficult to forecast records, because major shifts in people leaving or moving to Nevada could affect jobless percentages. But through the first half of 2010, at least, unemployment could tick upward.

"The fundamentals of the market continue to suggest that we have yet to see the bottom," Gordon said.

Still, experts said they believe Nevada will get back the jobs it's lost since the state hit peak employment in May 2007. No one the Review-Journal spoke with would estimate a time frame on a return to those job levels, but Gordon said it'll be measured in years, not months.

Recovery in the near term will be uneven, with some industries faring better than others. Construction should struggle through 2010, while leisure and hospitality will probably stabilize as room prices firm up and occupancy levels off, Gordon said.

Nor is Nevada likely to return to the heady days of 2006 and 2007, when the jobs base grew 6 percent a year. Rather, residents should expect a more modest and moderate -- but more sustainable -- growth rate once the recession ends, Anderson said.

The employment department also released data Friday showing that Nevada's population and job-formation rates slackened considerably in the past decade.

Nevada's employment gains averaged 76 percent per decade from the 1940s to the 1990s. From December 1999 to December 2009, though, Nevada's jobs base expanded by 15 percent -- the slowest growth rate for any 10-year period. Population growth fell from 70 percent in the 1990s to 30 percent in the 2000s, though population has nearly doubled since the mid-1990s, which could be at least partly behind the smaller percentage spikes.

State Demographer Jeff Hardcastle told the Economic Forum that Nevada's population fell 1 percent in fiscal 2009, which ended June 30. Population in the Silver State could drop another 100,000 to 2.6 million by 2015, depending on the availability of jobs. If the state can offer more jobs, then population could grow by 115,000, to 2.8 million, through 2015.

Contact reporter Jennifer Robison at jrobison@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4512. Review-Journal Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel contributed to this report.

Source:http://www.lvrj.com/news/jobs-report-only-part-of-story-82489907.html

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