Connecticut
The final beam needed to complete vertical construction of Connecticut’s newest family-friendly indoor waterpark resort, Great Wolf Lodge Mashantucket, was hoisted and placed in mid-June.
With this milestone reached, Great Wolf Lodge announced it would begin accepting reservations for stays beginning June 15, 2025, with the hope it will be able to move the date earlier as additional construction milestones are achieved this fall and winter.
Great Wolf Lodge Mashantucket is located on 13 acres adjacent to Foxwoods Resort Casino and will be the company’s 23rd resort in North America and third resort in the northeastern U.S. The property will bring 549 guest suites, a 91,000-square-foot indoor waterpark and a 61,000-square-foot Great Wolf Adventure Park, along with various eateries and retail outlets.
Great Wolf Lodge Mashantucket will also boast more than 7,500 square feet of flexible conference space with breakout rooms, built-in audiovisual technology, customizable catering options and a team of dedicated industry professionals.
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Massachusetts
To kick off the summer season, Red Jacket Resorts, one of the mid-Cape’s largest independent hotel brands and featuring private beach access, completed a $40 million multi-property renovation. The project included three of the collection’s five properties—Red Jacket Beach Resort, Riviera Beach Resort and Blue Water Resort—that are all located on a one-mile stretch along the Atlantic Ocean.
The three Red Jacket Resorts properties debuted a collective 397 newly designed guest rooms, cottages and family suites as well as new lobby spaces, meeting rooms, updated food and beverage outlets, refreshed pool experiences and beachfront amenities.
New designs at each property combine a sense of nostalgia with fun and contemporary touches tied to each brand. At the collection’s flagship property, Red Jacket Beach Resort, visitors will experience a complete refresh of its 163 rooms, or groups up to 12 can book entire homes with full kitchens, full hotel service and amenity access. Riviera Beach Resort features a full transformation of all 125 rooms and Blue Water Resort’s 109 guest rooms have also all been redesigned.
Newly designed meeting and event spaces at the resorts invite guests to feel inspired and leave refreshed in both traditional and non-traditional atmospheres. Red Jacket Beach Resort offers over 7,500 square feet of beachfront gathering space and extended its key meeting amenities, including onsite event coordinators, new beachfront event tents, technical support and more. The Driftwood Ballroom boasts 3,500 square feet of space with views of Nantucket Sound and can accommodate up to 200 people.
Blue Water Resort event venues are fit for group retreats at The Lighthouse, with 1,400 square feet of illuminating natural light for up to 100 guests, or The Shoals, a breakout-style 360-square-foot space for up to 25 guests.
Following the completion of the first phase of the collection-wide renovation, Red Jacket Resorts said it will continue to innovate its remaining spaces with fresh amenities and experiences in the near future.
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Pennsylvania
From BE Hospitality Group’s Top Chef-winning Nick Elmi and restaurateur/designer Fia Berisha, The Pump House is the newest events venue on Philadelphia’s Main Line. The space recently opened in the Ironworks at Pencoyd Landing, an iron and steel foundry founded in 1852 and reimagined as a riverside dining, events and leisure destination in the Bala Cynwyd community.
The Pump House is an elegant, 12,000-square-foot historic riverside event venue designed to mirror the industrial and natural elements surrounding it, with lush, native greenery connecting the property to the nearby Schuylkill River. The venue offers a picturesque backdrop for events across five distinct spaces that can host corporate events, intimate gatherings and larger parties ranging from 20 to 350 guests.
The Pump House’s Main Hall is a 4,500-square-foot room drenched in natural light and overlooking the Schuylkill River with space for 300 cocktail-style or 225 seated, both factoring in space for a dance floor. The Bar is anchored by a custom walnut bar and boasts timeless finishes like antique red-pine floor and a steel staircase with room for up to 125 guests, while The Speakeasy, located beneath The Bar, is a Gatsby-esque subterranean lounge space with its own bar and private entrance for up to 60 guests.