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Theme park files for bankruptcy

Cypress Gardens’ latest financial problems are the result of three 2004 hurricanes. It will stay open as owners reorganize.

By HELEN HUNTLEY
Published September 12, 2006

Less than two years after bringing back the water skiers, roller coasters and Southern belles, Cypress Gardens Adventure Park is in bankruptcy court.

Hurricanes Charley, Frances and Jeanne are getting the blame for throwing the 70-year-old attraction into Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.

Adventure Parks Group LLC of Valdosta, Ga., the company that owns Cypress Gardens in Winter Haven and Wild Adventures in Valdosta, said Tuesday that it will keep the parks open and honor season passes while reorganizing its finances.

The parent company and both parks filed cases in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Georgia. They owe about $70-million, according to their lawyer.

Among their largest creditors is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which loaned the parent company $9.6-million through an investment adviser, Grandview Capital Management of Manhattan Beach, Calif.

The Florida park’s creditors include a landscaping company, lighting designers, television stations WFLA-TV in Tampa and WTSP-TV in St. Petersburg, Tampa Electric and the Florida Department of Revenue.

Cypress Gardens opened in 1936, survived wars and recessions, only to close in 2003, a victim of slicker competitors like Walt Disney World, Busch Gardens and Universal Orlando.

Adventure Parks bought the property the next year. Trying to reinvent the park as a less costly alternative to theme-park-heavy Orlando, the Georgia company invested millions in more than 40 new rides.

Four previous ownership groups, including Anheuser-Busch Cos., had failed to keep the tourist attraction going.

But just before the planned reopening in 2004, three hurricanes crossed Polk County, leaving the park with about $25-million in damage. Adventure Parks repaired the damage and opened in December 2004, but was never able to collect from its insurance company.

Adventure Parks is suing Landmark American Insurance Co. for failure to pay its claims.

General Electric Capital Corp. is lending Adventure Parks $15-million to  continue operations. The company said it does not expect to cut jobs.

“We are convinced that this process will give us the opportunity we need to improve our financial position while growing our business,” Adventure Parks said in a statement.

The company said the bankruptcy filing will not disrupt plans for an expanded lineup of concerts and events at both parks for the rest of this year and early 2007.

“I’m devastated,” said Burma Posey Davis, president of Friends of Cypress Gardens, which lobbied Gov. Jeb Bush to help save the park in 2003. “I do hope it can be saved in the restructuring, because it means so much to us.”

Davis applauded Adventure Parks’ owner Kent Buescher for his efforts to bring the 150-acre park back to life, but said “the roller coasters weren’t enough to draw people away from Orlando.”

The park reported attendance of about 1.4-million last year, nearly double expectations. But most visitors lived within an hour’s drive, owned season passes and tended not to spend as much on food and drinks.

Community leaders see a deeper value to Cypress Gardens.

“The resurgence of the gardens has filled up our restaurants and hotels again,” said the Rev. Tom McGrath of Hope Presbyterian Church in Winter Haven.

“It’s  also been a big plus psychologically that the garden reopened and seemed to have been doing well.”Cypress Gardens’ prospects beyond 2007 are anybody’s guess.

For Abe Pizam, dean of the Rosen School of Hospitality Management at the University of Central Florida, the park remains a tough sell.

Pizam cited two kinds of successful theme parks: those with eye-popping attractions and no competitors nearby, and smaller ones a short drive from major parks like Disney. Cypress Gardens doesn’t qualify in either category.

“It’s not close to the tourist attractions of Tampa or Orlando … and does not have the power to bring in people from significant distances,’’ Pizam said. “It’s beautiful and should be preserved. But the facts of life are that it’s hard to maintain (as a business).’’

Times staff writer Steve Huettel contributed to this report, which includes information from the Associated Press.

[Last modified September 12, 2006, 22:33:45]