Kyle Green | The Roanoke Times

Developer Larry Vander Maten sits in front of site plans for a possible family resort development at the site of Explore Park in Roanoke County. Vander Maten was presenting his vision to the Virginia Recreational Facilities Authority board at the Vinton War Memorial Tuesday morning.

Luxury hotels, live theater, restaurants, tree-house cabins, excursions to Smith Mountain Lake and the world's longest "zipline" were among the attractions revealed Tuesday for an expensive Explore Park makeover.

Larry Vander Maten gave the most detailed explanation yet of his plans for the 1,100 acre site that he is now calling "Blue Ridge America."

He said that he wanted to preserve the natural attractiveness of the site and “brand” it based on its being on the Blue Ridge Parkway, the National Park Service’s most visited unit.

“That’s the selling experience . . . I want to take it and make it like a national park on steroids,” he said.

“National parks draw a lot of people, but they are limited in what they can do. We can do more, but also have the good things they have to offer.”

The Florida-based developer told the Virginia Recreational Facilities Authority board, which controls the Explore site, and the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors, that the project will likely be built in two stages -- and that the total estimated cost has risen to about $200 million.

It's a sum he conceded no lender is ready to offer in today's economic market, but "I will not give up."

While his 99-year lease with the board does have a so-called "drop-dead date" for starting construction - June 13, 2010 - Vander Maten said he might be back in a year to ask for another year to try to line up financing, if he can't come up with it before then.

In an interview later, he pointed out that, “I’m not an economist,” but he hopes that the talk he’s hearing out of Washington of at least the beginnings of an economic turnaround by year’s end hold true.

If financing were available, he said, he could begin moving earth within six months and that it would take two years to complete the first phase.

"There will be no theme parks and rides here," said the narrator of a 15-minute video he showed the boards.

Instead, the resort -- intended to draw families for two- to three-day vacations -- will provide "just pure unadulterated enjoyment among abundant beauty and natural surroundings."

The site is within a day’s drive of a quarter of the nation’s population, he said.

Plans call for peak final accommodations for 700 and a full-time staff of 140 with total summer employment of 500.

The plans included an equestrian center, man-made lakes, retail shops, a golf course, conference center, spa, a system of overhead gondolas to transport visitors to every corner of the park, and what it said was the "longest, highest zipline anywhere." A zipline consists of a suspended steel cable on which individuals ride a wheeled pulley.

Vander Maten mentioned several inspirations that apparently have influenced the park, such as Disney World, Branson, Mo., Gatlinburg, Tenn., and a Colorado dude ranch.
He noted that there are a few more elements that he has not yet disclosed because they are “proprietary . . . intellectual property” involving other parties.

Several facilities authority board members gave the plans high praise.

K.C. Bratton said the presentation was excellent and showed that Vander Maten’s plan “has a little something for everybody.”

“And one of the best parts is that it is very eco-friendly,” blending into the park itself, he said.

Even the zipline, he said, should appeal to at least one group that uses the park now. “Mountain bikers are pretty adventurous,” he said. And he intends to try it himself, Bratton said.

“The presentation was beautiful,” said board chairman Fred Anderson.

Eddie Goode, a longtime interpreter at the park, said he was excited by Vander Maten’s plans and hopes to see them fulfilled.

But Bill Modica, chairman of the Blue Ridge Environmental Network, while he thought the video presentation was good, “it was puffed up a little bit. There were a few exaggerations.”

Apparently prepared for use as a tool in making pitches for investors, the video shows views of the Blue Ridge Parkway from Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina, for instance, and some waterways and vistas that Wilkinson said were intended to represent what the developers have in mind, not what is on the site.

Board member Bill Tanger, who has been working on securing improvements on Roanoke River access at the end of Rutrough Road at the edge of the park, said he was still concerned about public access at that point.

Vander Maten’s plans appeared to indicate a controlled entrance to the river there, for travel as far as Smith Mountain Lake on small boats or personal watercraft.

The plans include a wide range of lodging options, from luxury hotels to parking for recreational vehicles.

There will be 60 “tree houses” spaced out along the riverside, and 100 individual cabins.

About 16,500 square feet of retail space is planned along a riverfront walkway.

An equestrian center is shown on the north side of the property, and there will be two theaters, one for live performances and the other for movies.