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Cypress Gardens Park To Be Sold

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By BILLY TOWNSEND, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 6, 2007

WINTER HAVEN - The owner of the Cypress Gardens amusement park and another popular theme park in Georgia said he's putting both up for sale.

Kent Buescher, the owner of the venerable Cypress Gardens, which has undergone a radical transformation since reopening in late 2004, and Wild Adventures in Valdosta, Ga., said Thursday he will seek buyers in an auction to be held in Macon, Ga., Sept. 25.

He said his company, Adventure Parks Group LLC, is seeking a minimum bid of $53 million for the two amusement parks together.

Bankruptcy records show there is a standing agreement from Herschend Family Entertainment Corp. of Norcross, Ga., to bid $34.5 million for the Wild Adventures theme park.

Herschend owns 17 amusement parks in the Southeast, including Dollywood in Tennessee and the Dixie Stampede, a dinner attraction, in Orlando and three other cities.

Herschend's 'stalking horse' bid will be accepted unless a higher bid is submitted on or before the auction date, bankruptcy records show. Neither Herschend nor Buescher could be reached late Thursday to comment on the Herschend bid.

Buescher said Thursday that there is a stalking horse bidder for Cypress Gardens, but he declined to identify that suitor. Court records dated Aug. 30 do not include details of that bid.

Buescher said earlier Thursday that several potential buyers have expressed interest in keeping him involved in running the park but that there are no guarantees.

'I hope I'm not saying goodbye,' Buescher said. 'This stuff gets in your blood.'

Faced with crushing debt from the cost of storm repairs, Cypress Gardens filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last September.

In its filing, the park said its insurer refused to pay almost $25 million in damage done by three hurricanes that barreled across Polk County in 2004. Buescher has maintained since then that the park has been operating successfully.

Buescher said visitors to the park should notice no difference. All the attractions, promotions and special pass plans will continue, he said.

On Thursday, he said that he decided to move ahead with auctioning the parks as the best way to honor obligations to creditors and employees.

As one of Florida's oldest tourist attractions - the park opened in 1936 - Cypress Gardens was a must-see on the Florida tourism map for decades. The rise of Florida's flagship theme parks, however, cut into attendance. It finally closed in April 2003.

To save the park, the state and Polk County contributed $13.5 million, and Buescher invested $7 million. Buescher then brought dozens of rides to an old Cypress Gardens parking lot hoping to win younger customers and families back to the new Cypress Gardens Adventure Park, which opened in late 2004. Today, it is 150 acres full of widely varying entertainment.

As part of the deal, the state paid for a conservation easement on the original gardens portion of the park. The unique ownership arrangement makes it very unlikely that a buyer could come in and build condominiums or some other nontheme park development on the park, said Buescher and Winter Haven Chamber of Commerce head Bob Gernert.

Reporter Billy Townsend can be reached at wtownsend@tampatrib.com or (863) 284-1409.

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