Developer Bilbo exits Mattel park development in Arizona, presses on with $539M Kansas City plan

The developer behind the long-delayed Mattel Adventure Park in Arizona appears to have stepped away from the West Valley project but continues to advance a similar development in the Kansas City metro area.

Rian Kirkman, senior vice president of marketing for VAI Resort, confirmed in an email that VAI Resort now is the developer, owner and operator of the under-construction Mattel Adventure Park in Glendale. Glen Bilbo, CEO of Epic Resort Destinations, previously led the project. VAI did not confirm when Bilbo walked away.

Bilbo has been associated with a number of entertainment projects over a decades-long career — departing several of those developments before they were ever completed. That list incudes the Western-style Frontier Town theme park proposed in Branson, Missouri; the Belle Island Village development in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee; and the Blue Collar Country development in Foley, Alabama, which was once tied to comedians Jeff Foxworthy and Larry the Cable Guy, that never came to fruition.

VAI Resort has weathered an extended development timeline, initially being spearheaded by Bilbo as far back as 2019 under the name Crystal Lagoons Island Resort. The project was set to be completed before Glendale hosted the 2023 Super Bowl played in Glendale, but progress has been delayed due to myriad legal hurdles and an ever-expanding project scope under VAI Resort’s new ownership group, helmed by the leaders of civil construction firm Fisher Industries.

Once complete, the project will feature 1,100 hotel rooms across multiple towers, 11 restaurants, an 11,000-seat amphitheater, large pool area, conference center and the Mattel Adventure Park with roller coasters and other attractions.

This story is posted in partnership with Phoenix Business Journal. Click to read the full story.

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