A Bradenton-based company said Monday it is planning to build a 15-acre water park in Manatee County.

Representatives of Jungle Falls Inc. said the "Jungle Falls Water Adventure Park" will be the first of three such attractions it will develop around the state. The company said it is in talks with potential investors and expects to have the roughly $13 million project fully funded and built within the next 18-24 months.

The company said it has been negotiating with several local land owners and is within weeks of deciding its final location in Manatee. It has narrowed down the potential sites to three — a location near Port Manatee and two others off Interstate 75, although CEO Garrick Newman would not elaborate as talks are ongoing.

The tropical-themed park is slated to include a 20,000-square-foot wave-pool lagoon with a simulated tropical beach, volleyball courts and more than a dozen water slides, according a the news release. Plans also call for a slow-flowing "Amazon River" around the park, as well as food and beverage facilities, ice cream stands, gift shops, a concert venue and more.

Newman said the company's management team has commissioned a feasability study and expects to draw approximately 250,000 visitors a year from March through October. It also anticipates employing 100 workers during the peak summer season and may even keep one park attraction, a surfing simulator, open year-round.

"We don't want this to be a once- or twice-a-year treat," Newman said. "We're going to be more community-oriented and well under the price of other parks. We want to be a place people will use every weekend."

Tickets for the park would cost less than $30, Newman said, and around $49 for a season pass.

The park would have all the amenities and the same feel as larger facilities such as those run by Walt Disney World in Orlando, Newman said, just on a smaller site that's closer to home for Manatee and Sarasota county residents.

"This will have a smaller footprint than the Disney parks," Newman said. "People don't want to walk 200 yards to the next attraction in their bare feet."

The company said it has contracted Jacksonville's Wet Engineering as the water park’s engineers and Canada-based WhiteWater West Industries Ltd. — whose clients include Busch Gardens, Sea World, Six Flags, Universal Studios and Disney — as the lead builder.

Newman has had preliminary discussions with the county's planning and development department and with Karen Stewart, the county's economic development manager, who said she has helped guide the company through the process of submitting possible sites.

"If they do secure land, it's a matter of helping them with the building and developing aspect of the site and which site will meet their needs," Stewart said.

The company has gone through the pre-application process, but a full application has not yet been submitted, according to Phyllis Strong, the county's development services supervisor.

County planners reviewed a pre-application by Newman last September for one potential site along U.S. 41 North in Palmetto, north of I-275, and determined that rezoning would be required, records show.

Jungle Falls Inc. has contracted Houston-based AmeriFinancial to help raise capital for the project, Newman said, and expects an update on interested investors in the next 30 to 60 days.

After the Manatee park gets underway, the company has plans for two more sites, possibly in the Port St. Lucie area on the east coast and in northern Florida, Newman said.

Newman, the company's founder and a Manatee resident for the past 20 years, said he's been exploring the concept of a water park in the county since 1998 but put plans on the back-burner as land prices skyrocketed. He said he's excited to get the project off the ground and has had numerous talks with county officials.

"They've been extremely receptive the last few years," Newman said.