Landry's To Develop Amusement Pier in Galveston

Landry's Restaurants has proposed building an amusement park on the pier that formerly housed Galveston, Texas' famous Flagship Hotel.  The new amusement park would be called Pleasure Pier, according to reports.  If approved construction to demolish the hotel and build the park would take around 18 months.

The hotel was badly damaged during Hurricane Ike in 2008, having previously been purchased by Landry's in 2004.  The company originally planned to spend $15 million to renovate and reopen the hotel, along with adding some amusements to the pier.  Now Landry's would like to remove the hotel and focus on building a larger amusement park.

Plans call for many rides and attractions, and an application has been submitted for a ride up to 225 feet.  The final approval for the $30 million project could be gained at the end of this month.

Landry's is known in the amusement community for having developed Kemah Boardwalk, which is about 25 miles from the proposed park.  Kemah features the Boardwalk Bullet, designed by the Gravity Group, along with many other rides and attractions.  Landry's also operates the Rainforest Cafe chain of restaurants, as well as the Yak & Yeti inside Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park and T-Rex at Downtown Disney in Florida.