Ark Park Plans Change

A sketch of the Noah's Ark portion of Ark Encounter.

ArkEcounter.com

(Grant County, Ky.) - Plans for a Noah’s Ark theme park in northern Kentucky are progressing, but with some modifications.

Answers in Genesis, the same group that owns the Creation Museum in Petersburg, says they have acquired the last piece of property necessary for the Ark Encounter park in Grant County near Williamstown off Interstate 75.

The 800-acre park – of which 160 acres would be usable – would feature a life-sized replica of what Noah’s Ark may have looked like.

“It has taken considerable, but necessary, time to close on all the different parcels, and there have been environmental studies that took time to perform on parts of the land, but all the needed acreage has been purchased,” said Michael Zovath, Senior Vice President of Answers in Genesis.

The $173 million park was originally scheduled for completion in 2014, however, fundraising has been slow. Only about $5 million of a $24 million donation goal has been raised.

Zovath said the park will be built in stages in stages, instead of one single project, due to the economy as well as new engineering findings on the ark replica.

“In addition, the completion of complex engineering and architectural work on the Ark structure has allowed for significantly greater guest capacity inside the Ark than originally anticipated. This finding has eliminated the need to build additional biblical attractions simultaneously to accommodate the projected crowds,” the ministry said.

AiG’s research has shown that when Ark Encounter does open, it will draw more than one million visitors in its first year. 

Last year, the Kentucky Tourism Development Finance Authority granted $43 million in tax incentives over ten years for the Ark Encounter project.

LINKS:

Tax Incentives Given To Ark Park

Experts Say Theme Park Projections Way Off

Grant Co. Park Would Bring Fun, Jobs