KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Officials broke ground Tuesday for the Schlitterbahn Vacation Village.

The 370-acre attraction near Kansas Speedway will be a year-round tourist destination filled with stores, restaurants and a hotel.

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It is scheduled to open in the summer of 2009 at the old Wyandotte County fairgrounds, between State Avenue and Parallel Parkway near Village West.

The first elements of the vacation village will include the first phase of the water resort, several lodging components and the initial shops and restaurants to be developed along the project's themed river walk.

Other parts of the vacation village will continue to be completed through the summer of 2011.

The vacation village is a $750 million retail entertainment destination comprised of multiple shopping, dining, lodging and entertainment venues connected by a Transportainment® River System.

In the vacation village, manmade rivers will carry guests between lodging units and a world-class water resort along with a covered river walk including shops and restaurants.

The Kansas project is the first expansion outside of Texas for the popular Schlitterbahn group of water parks.

Schlitterbahn currently operates three Texas water parks - Schlitterbahn Beach Waterpark, South Padre Island, Schlitterbahn Galveston Island Waterpark, Galveston Island, and the award-winning flagship water park Schlitterbahn Waterpark Resort, New Braunfels.

They expect to employee 3,000 people at the water park and more at the shops and restaurants.