Bradley OKs $20M for indoor water park equipment

BRADLEY – The massive 2-acre indoor water park set for Bradley will be filled with attractions.

And plenty of them.

The Bradley Village Board on Monday unanimously approved a resolution that granted Mayor Mike Watson to spend $20,064,654 on equipment to outfit the park from top to bottom.

The board also approved the first of what will be at least two government obligation bond packages in which they will sell $28.9 million of bonds – payable over 20 years – to fund this first phase of development.

The village, said Rob Romo, Bradley finance director, will sell an additional $50 million of bonds most likely in early 2026.

Bond payments would be financed through a combination of Tax Increment Financing revenues, hotel taxes and business district taxes.

The yet-to-be-named park, set to be where Northfield Square mall sits, is not expected to be ready for water enthusiasts until mid to late 2027, officials said.

As planned, the indoor water park would be the largest in Illinois.

The water park is part of a two-pronged approach Bradley is taking to transform the village – already Kankakee County’s retail and hotel/motel hub – into its tourism center by attracting thousands to the youth baseball and softball complex immediately east of the Bradley Commons Shopping Center and the planned water park.

The unfinished, 12-diamond youth baseball-softball complex is slated to open in May.

Bradley purchased the bulk of the Northfield property earlier this year for $6.5 million. The village previously purchased the former Carson’s men’s store and the former JCPenney location.

Based on design plans, the park would be in the top 20 in the United States in terms of size.

Watson said the village will put down a “multi-million deposit” on the swimming park features which will allow construction to begin on the water slides, multi-play structures, spray features and surfing mechanism, among other items, by the Richmond, British Columbia-based WhiteWater West.

Bradley has been laying the groundwork for the indoor water park for several months.

The board approved the administration to spend $10.5 million on the water park’s glass and aluminum retractable roof with OpenAire Sales, of Oakville, Ontario, Canada, for the projected $75 million to $80 million attraction.

The park could accommodate 1,700 to 2,000 people at a time and draw patrons from a four- to six-hour drive, according to previous data points.

This travel radius would include locations such as southwest Michigan, Indianapolis, St. Louis and Des Moines, Iowa.

The park’s first year of operation is projected to have attendance of 410,550, and by 2037, the park’s 10th year, attendance could reach 479,448.