I'm starting a new thread for this since the previous one was about the Koch family bidding to take over the park which fell through & now it looks like Ed Hart, as part of a new investment group, has secured a new lease.
Hart, the original owner before Six Flags purchased the park, had stated in an interview at the time of the Koch interest that he wouldn't be coming back because of the Kentucky State Fair Board, which turned down a bid he made shortly after the park closed. However, today the Fair Board voted unanimously to approve a lease agreement between the state & the Kentucky Kingdom Redevelopment Co., the investment group led by Hart, that would see the park reopen in Spring 2014.
The deal would require the investors to put in $45 million, including $25 million that they would borrow, with an initial lease on the state-owned property for 50 years. The group would control 57 acres plus another 4 acres for the potential expansion of the water park & would pay rent to the state of $475,000 a year at first, then it would increase over 15 years until it is capped at $1.2 million.
The developers would get $1.25 of the current $8 visitors pay to park. All rides and improvements undertaken by the developers would become property of the state.
Earlier this week, Louisville city officials & the Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau board of commissioners, who voted to provide the developers $100,000 a year for five years toward the park’s operating cost, offered financial incentives worth as much as $300,000 a year toward reopening the park. The city also agreed to return to the park up to 1.25 percent of the annual occupational tax collections generated by the park’s employment. Mayor Greg Fischer estimated the city incentive to be worth about $100,000 a year.
Here's a link to the previous thread, for those of you that want more background information:
http://www.coasterforce.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=33264&start=28&hilit=kentucky
Source
http://www.courier-journal.com/arti...elopers-target-Spring-2014-reopening?gcheck=1
Hart, the original owner before Six Flags purchased the park, had stated in an interview at the time of the Koch interest that he wouldn't be coming back because of the Kentucky State Fair Board, which turned down a bid he made shortly after the park closed. However, today the Fair Board voted unanimously to approve a lease agreement between the state & the Kentucky Kingdom Redevelopment Co., the investment group led by Hart, that would see the park reopen in Spring 2014.
The deal would require the investors to put in $45 million, including $25 million that they would borrow, with an initial lease on the state-owned property for 50 years. The group would control 57 acres plus another 4 acres for the potential expansion of the water park & would pay rent to the state of $475,000 a year at first, then it would increase over 15 years until it is capped at $1.2 million.
The developers would get $1.25 of the current $8 visitors pay to park. All rides and improvements undertaken by the developers would become property of the state.
Earlier this week, Louisville city officials & the Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau board of commissioners, who voted to provide the developers $100,000 a year for five years toward the park’s operating cost, offered financial incentives worth as much as $300,000 a year toward reopening the park. The city also agreed to return to the park up to 1.25 percent of the annual occupational tax collections generated by the park’s employment. Mayor Greg Fischer estimated the city incentive to be worth about $100,000 a year.
Here's a link to the previous thread, for those of you that want more background information:
http://www.coasterforce.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=33264&start=28&hilit=kentucky
Source
http://www.courier-journal.com/arti...elopers-target-Spring-2014-reopening?gcheck=1
