Newark’s Coco Key Water Resort has closed

The Coco Key Water Resort at Newark’s Cherry Valley Lodge announced Monday that it had closed, effective immediately.

A hotel representative who answered the phone Monday confirmed the closure, but said a manager was unavailable for comment.

Cherry Valley Lodge itself remains in operation.

“We are sad to inform the public our doors are closed. We thank you for the support and friendships we have made with guests returning over the years!,” read a post made to the Coco Key Facebook page at about 10:30 a.m. No other explanation was given for the closing. By late afternoon, the post had been commented on 74 times and shared about 150 times.

Groupon was still selling ticket packages on Monday to Coco Key. Groupon provides refunds for the amount paid to anyone holding an unused Groupon for a business that closes.

Cherry Valley Lodge was put up for sale in August 2016, but a sale has not yet been finalized. The owner is still listed on the Licking

County Auditor’s site as Bellaire Hospitalities, which bought the property in 2011. Hotel broker Eric Belfrage of CBRE declined Monday to give a status update on the potential sale.

The closing announcement comes at the start of the typically busy holiday season for indoor waterparks

and leaves central Ohio without one. The closest waterparks to Columbus now are in the Cincinnati area, which has two, and in Sandusky, which has four.

Fort Rapids Indoor Waterpark Resort on the East Side was ordered by Columbus police to close in February 2016 until it fixed a number of health and safety violations. It has remained closed since. New owners have

said they plan to reopen the facility as a hotel and waterpark, but the venture remains a work in progress.

Richard Wolney, a Westerville-based real estate consultant to Fort Rapids’ California buyers, said Monday that the new owners were still evaluating their options based on the projected cost to reopen and operate a waterpark there.

Fort Rapids was sold in the spring, but by August, the owners were reported to be putting plans to reopen the waterpark on hold because of concerns about a new psychiatric hospital planned next door.

Wolney said the final decision would come down to a number of factors, including the surrounding area, cost and expected return on investment.