$500M Legoland Project Unveiled in Orange County

A 250-room hotel would is part of the LEGOLAND New York theme park and resort proposal.

GOSHEN, NY—Orange County could have its own major resort, a $500-million Legoland theme park. Merlin Entertainments PLC made its first presentation of its LEGOLAND New York theme park on Tuesday evening to the Goshen Town Board and hundreds of local residents, politicians and members of the building trades. The project would include a theme park and 250-room hotel, rivaling the more than $1-billion Montreign Resort Casino at Adelaar under construction about 30 miles north in Sullivan County, Orange County Merlin Entertainments, the world’s second largest visitor attraction operator, will file plans with the Town of Goshen on Thursday, June 16th, according to John Ussher, senior divisional director, LEGOLAND Development. Merlin Entertainments, the developer and operator of the proposed park, is hopeful that it can secure all necessary approvals by January 2017 and open the theme park in early 2019. Merlin will seek a zone change from the Town of Goshen on 153 acres of the more than 500 acres it controls on a parcel that abuts Route 17, along Harriman Road between exits 124 and 125. Ussher and Merlin Senior Project Manager Ian Stewart made their presentation before a packed room at Orange County’s 911 Center here. The Goshen theme park will be Merlin’s third Legoland park in the United States and will not include a water park. Ussher added that the park would attract between 1.5 million to 2.5 million visitors each year and would be open from April 1 to the end of October. The hotel would be operational year-round. The LEGOLAND New York Resort will feature more than 50 rides, shows and attractions. The park’s design would mirror the concept of the six resorts operating in Florida, California, the United Kingdom, Germany, Malaysia and Denmark. Ussher said that the total project would involve approximately 750,000 square feet of construction and will take two years to construct. Merlin officials had proposed to build the Legoland park that would include an amusement park, a water park and a hotel at the 175-acre Letchworth Village site in Haverstraw and Stony Point in Rockland County. However, after the project, which had not been officially presented to the village, drew some local criticism, the Town Board and Town Supervisor Howard Phillips released a statement last October that the village would no longer consider the project. Shortly thereafter, Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus and the Orange County Partnership, along with officials from Empire State Development, began talks with Merlin Entertainments to develop the theme park in Orange County. Ussher says that incentives from New York State and Orange County are critical for the project. The project has already secured approximately $3 million from New York State in the Consolidated Funding Application competition. “We believe this location, just an hour from New York City and approximately three hours from Boston and Philadelphia, is the absolute perfect site for an entertainment brand as compelling as Legoland,” Ussher says. “We would be honored to join the Goshen/Orange County community and are confident local and regional residents, in addition to international travelers coming to New York, would have a fantastic experience at the park.”