USA: Merlin Entertainments Given Green Light for LEGOLAND® New York
© © Business Wire
The Town of Goshen Planning Board has recently granted the building permit for the planned LEGOLAND® New York theme park, which along a 250-bedroom Lego-themed hotel is scheduled to be developed on a more than 200 hectare (500+ Acre) large site until 2020 (cf. EAP, 1/17 & EAP news from September 28th, 2017). The park, which will be the third Legoland park from owner and operator Merlin Entertainments in North America and at the same time the ninth Legoland park worldwide, will be operated seasonally from April until November, whereas the Lego-themed hotel will be open for overnight guests the whole year round. More than 1,000 new working places will be created with the new Legoland park, in addition to approx. 800 jobs during construction.
Nick Varney, CEO of Merlin Entertainments, is delighted about the commencement of the large-scale project: “LEGOLAND New York is the first new major theme park in the North East of the US for several decades, and is perfectly located for visitors from New York, Boston, Philadelphia and beyond. At 350 million US-Dollar [approx. 300 million Euro] it is our largest investment in a single park to date, and our third Legoland Park in North America, the world’s largest market for theme parks and the LEGO® brand. This investment reaffirms our commitment to further diversifying Merlin’s portfolio of attractions internationally and is an important milestone in our global Legoland rollout programme. We look forward to start the building project and working closely with the people of Goshen to establish a fantastic short break destination for families in the New York and surrounding areas,” said Varney.
Besides the new LEGOLAND New York, Merlin Entertainments plans to launch a new Legoland park in South Korea (cf. EAP news from December 5th, 2014) as well as the development of further parks in China. (eap)
