Why build Great Wolf Lodge in 'elderly, upscale Naples?' With locale, it has grandpa fans

Editor's note: This is the latest in a series on Florida's first Great Wolf Lodge, one of the most significant endeavors in Naples history that's drawing plenty of questions from you. One of Collier County's biggest private workplaces, the 530,000-square-foot retreat and water park is slated as Southwest Florida's third largest employer in tourism, drawing by itself the same number of visitors in a year that all of Collier in its entirety attracts in nearly three months time.

There's one inquiry that keeps repeatedly dogging the $250 million Great Wolf Lodge, among the many fans and detractors who weigh in with me or on social media including the Facebook and Instagram pages of the News-Press and Naples Daily News.

"Water park in elderly, upscale Naples?" critic Joseph LoPresti said of the compound due to launch by autumn off Collier Boulevard and I-75. "It just doesn't seem to have the right demographics."

"Naples isn’t exactly a mecca site for children," Reader Jan Ambrose said. "How are they accounting for (this?) Of all the places in the U.S. to build, this doesn’t seem profitable enough in Naples."

"I do question why Naples," Lee County resident Nicholas Wesner said. "But eh, my kids love Great Wolf Lodge. So us being in Fort Myers, I can expect they will take my money."

So we're keeping it simple today and putting it to the CEO, and also will share comments on the topic from a pair of the more powerful local big daddies on this Father's Day. Here's what to know about why Great Wolf selected a region that's part of one of the oldest congressional districts in America for its complex, or at least ignored that fact.

In the Know asks Great Wolf Lodge CEO John 'Murph' Murphy: 'Why did you come to a retiree area? That's been a very, very common question.'

CEO John "Murph" Murphy told In the Know it comes down to the locale:

"Yeah, look, we love this whole southern Florida location here in Collier County, Naples. We are a drive-to- destination resort. So if you think about our radius, it's typically one to four hours of drive time. We're gong to be touching (cities), like Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Tampa and even Orlando. So we think it's a great location down here."

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Why shouldn't grandpas have fun at Great Wolf Lodge? This one does.

"I think about my five little grandkids when they talked me into going to the Great Wolf Lodge in Dallas," County Commission Chairman Chris Hall said. "This was probably eight to 10 years ago. (They) talked me into going up this stairway to heaven. At the top of this stairway, there were one of those raft tube things. They were giggling. I should have taken a clue from that. (As) soon as I went in this tunnel, everything went pitch black. You couldn't see squat.

"But in the beginning was just a straight down cliff in the dark, on this raft that emptied into this big concrete-looking mixture bowl type-looking thing, and it's on the other side of the building. When (I) got into that mixture bowl ― I went past vertical and I was kind of looking down ― and it was at that point and time, I screamed like a girl. I stayed screaming like a girl til' I got down. Well, that was the first of many of those things. That was my first experience with Great Wolf Lodge, and when they talk about family, it's an understatement."

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What was a key reason for supporting Great Wolf Lodge for Collier?

"It was math to me," said Commissioner Bill McDaniel, who supported a study that found the resort would have a $5 billion impact on Collier County over three decades. "When I ran for office, I promised jobs. I promised economic well-being for everyone across the board. This was math."

Based at the Naples Daily News, Columnist Phil Fernandez (pfernandez@gannett.com) grew up in Southwest Florida and has led Pulitzer Prize-winning efforts. He writes In the Know, one of USA TODAY Network's most read local news columns in the state.

This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Great Wolf Lodge Naples, FL: Why it's being built in retiree area