Grand Prairie Plans To Build Largest Indoor Ski Center In United States

By DOUALY XAYKAOTHAO

KERA NEWS: The city of Grand Prairie wants to build an indoor ski resort with a run as tall as Arlington’s AT&T Stadium. The $400 million project would be the largest in the United States, with seven slopes, a snowboard course with an Olympic half-pipe, and the first Hard Rock Hotel in Texas.

The ambitious venture is called The Grand Alps. If completed in four years, evergreen trees would dot a mountain-like resort on roughly 60 acres of prairie, just off Interstate 30 and Belt Line Road.   

“The front of it looks like you’re pulling up to a Swiss Alps ski resort, year around,” saidRon Jensen, mayor of Grand Prairie.  

“You’ll be able to see it for miles around,” he added. “That’s the vision I have. … A 350,000-square feet indoor ski resort where you can ski down to the bottom of it, and have your cappuccino just like you would at Breckenridge. You can stay at the hotel and have your room look out onto the ski slopes while you’re at the hotel. It’s just going to revitalize our area.”  

Project will cover six football fields 

Jensen says the project will generate about 2,000 local jobs. The Grand Alps developer says half of the price tag for the entire project has been secured — that’s about $200 million. Construction for the Hard Rock Hotel is scheduled to begin in late January, says Marco Roca, an executive for Hard Rock International.

“I don’t think we’re at a point where it’s an if this is going to happen,” he said. “I really think we’re at a point where this is going to happen. You are central to everything in Grand Prairie. Sometimes by being in the right place, that’s all it takes.”  

The snow park, including the hotel, will cover about six football fields. It’s expected to be bigger than Ski Dubai in the Middle East. There, locals and tourists can go from desert temperatures into snow and slopes for less than $100.  Read Full Story on KERA News / Download Audio File

Doualy Xaykaothao covers breaking news from Asia for NPR News. She’s based in Bangkok, Thailand, and her reports can be heard across all NPR News programs.