Sun News - The owners of the former Freestyle Music Park continue to search for a buyer or new operator as experts wonder whether the third time might be a charm for the twice-failed theme park. Attorneys for FPI US, the mortgage holder who bought back the property for $7 million during a foreclosure auction in August, have been handing out proposal guidelines to potential buyers and park operators with the goal of reopening the park off U.S. 501 in Fantasy Harbour by the summer tourism season next year. To have time to get the park ready by next summer, a new owner or operators should come on board this fall, officials said. As the search for a new operator continues, economists and theme park experts disagree on whether the theme park can succeed in the Myrtle Beach area, where tourists flock to the beaches during the day – not a theme park. Still, some are still rooting for the park to take off and say it can work if done right, which would include major changes in the way the park operated during its first two summers in 2008 and 2009 – both of which ended in bankruptcy or foreclosure. “It’s a challenge, but there’s still potential,” said John Gerner, managing director for Leisure Business Advisors, a Richmond, Va.-based firm that does feasibility and design work for theme parks and other amusements. “People in my industry, we are cheering for that park to come back.”
‘Colossal failure …’ Some say the theme park’s ride in Myrtle Beach is over. Owners have tried twice to make the park work, and neither could. The $400 million attraction debuted as Hard Rock Park in 2008 but closed after one summer and was sold out of bankruptcy in February 2009 for $25 million. FPI MB reopened it as Freestyle Music Park in May 2009, but it failed again after the summer, falling into foreclosure owing money to bands, website designers and other firms that did business with the park – payments most of them never received. It will be difficult to find investors, not only because of today’s tough economy but because of the park’s track record, said Rob Salvino, an economist at Coastal Carolina University. When a company buys a $400 million park at the bargain of $25 million and still can’t make it work, it doesn’t seem promising, he said. “And it still didn’t make it,” Salvino said. “I don’t know how you could pay less for it. “I think it would be a very high-risk investment for a group to take on,” Salvino said, adding that he doesn’t think the park can succeed even if it did find investors. “When you look at that much of a colossal failure … the likelihood is just not very good [that it would succeed].”
Attorneys for FPI say they’ve gotten several groups interested in the park – though they declined to say how many – and that “most people are still very positive about Myrtle Beach,” said Franklin Daniels, an attorney representing FPI. Despite the park’s bumpy ride, FPI is confident the park can be successful here with the right operators, he said. “They completely believe it can work and want it to work,” Daniels said. “We are in a tough economy and the park has its history. … But there are enough tourists who come here who want to be entertained. It would be a fun and interesting thing to do while you’re at the beach.” Locals and experts have speculated about what went wrong with Hard Rock Park and Freestyle. Most blame its location several miles away from the beach, high ticket prices – especially during a recession when consumers aren’t opening their wallets – and the daytime competition from the amenity that brings tourists here to begin with: the beach. “The beach is a dynamic that really makes it hard for a theme park to do well,” Gerner said. “Generally, [tourists] are already there to do something else during the day.” About 14 million tourists visit the Grand Strand each year, most of them lured by the ocean or golf. A theme park will be an activity they do after the beach – such as a Broadway at the Beach experience – and will never be the main reason vacationers come here like Disney World is in Orlando, experts say. “Will it be a destination like Carowinds or Six Flags or Mickey Mouse? Not unless Six Flags comes in,” said Horry County Councilman Gary Loftus, whose district includes the theme park. “It’s not going to be a destination. It’ll be like Broadway [at the Beach] – something to do when they get here.”
‘Off the beaten path’ Loftus and others said the theme park could have a place here if it operated like the beachside amusement parks that have done well for so many years, including Family Kingdom Amusement Park and The Myrtle Beach Pavilion Amusement Park, which closed in 2006. A key to success is crafting a business plan that fills that niche, said Mark Lazarus, a veteran amusement park operator along the Grand Strand who contacted FPI’s attorneys to express interest in working with investors to make the former Freestyle work. Lazarus also tried to buy the park out of bankruptcy after its first season as Hard Rock Park. “I still think it has potential if it is done the right way,” Lazarus said. Dropping the gate fee is one of the first steps, he said. Lazarus and others said the ticket price – starting at $40 for adults as Freestyle – was way out of reach for budget-conscious families – especially during the spending cutbacks of the recession. And unlike Disney-goers, theme park visitors here don’t want to stay the whole day recouping that cost; they are more likely to see a trip to the theme park as a way to cap the day, experts said. Experts suggest free admission, with guests paying for what they want to do while inside, such as buying a wristband for rides or a ticket to a concert. Lazarus suggested opening in midafternoon and staying open until midnight, possibly with a laser light show as a nightly feature. “If the gate is free, a lot of people will just venture in,” Lazarus said.
The park’s location is another challenge, experts say. It’s about 5 miles from the oceanfront, so tourists have to make an effort to go west of the Intracoastal Waterway instead of just strolling along the main strip or driving a couple of miles to Broadway, they said. “This place is off the beaten path a little bit,” Salvino said.
The park also needs to be more easily seen by drivers along busy U.S. 501 headed into the beach – several experts suggested demolishing the mall building. In addition, the Fantasy Harbour area itself needs some sprucing up, experts said. More rides also would make the park more appealing and give guests more to do, Lazarus said.
A summer 2012 opening - The park’s owners want to have the theme park ready to go for summer 2012. It has been closed for the past two summers as officials worked through its financial and legal woes, though a few workers stayed on to regularly run the rides and keep them in shape. They are gearing up even more now to possibly show off the park to potential buyers or operators, Daniels said. But some local leaders – even though they want to see the park reopen and be successful – aren’t sure a summer opening is in the cards. Loftus said the park can be successful with the right business plan, but said the new owners or operators should wait a couple of years until the economy has improved. “I think it could [succeed], I just don’t think the time is right,” Loftus said. “But I hate to see it just sitting there.” Theme parks across the country haven’t escaped the down economy. The industry improved some in 2010, but the verdict on the 2011 season is still out, said Colleen Mangone, a spokeswoman for the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions. Parks have reported mixed results, with some saying wet weather at the beginning of the 2011 season hurt attendance, while others said attendance, season pass sales and corporate outings to the parks continued to increase, she said. “We are still feeling the effects of the economy,” Gerner said. “There seems to be a feeling that things are improving. We are holding our own.” Experts said it’s too early to say how 2012 might shape up – a lot of it will depend on which way the economy goes in the next few months. Still, several parks – including Dollywood and Carowinds – are adding major, multimillion-dollar rides for 2012.
It’s unclear how long it would take to get the former Freestyle park ready to open by the summer. Freestyle owners did it in about three months, but Lazarus said it would take eight months to a year to get it ready through rebranding, marketing and adding rides. So if the park wants to open in 2012, a buyer or operator needs to be locked in soon, Lazarus said. “It needs to be happening right now,” he said. Now is a tough time to line up investors, especially considering the park’s history, Horry County Council Chairman Tom Rice said. Still, a reopened park could create much-needed jobs in Horry County, which like many other areas in the state and the country, is being hammered by double-digit unemployment rates, he said. “If I was an investor, I’d be cautious,” Rice said. “If somebody buys it, I wish them the best of luck. We sure need the jobs.” The Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corp., the county-funded agency charged with luring jobs and businesses here, has talked with the park’s existing owners about state job tax credits that a new operator might qualify for, but it is not pursuing theme park operators because it is focusing on diversifying the tourism-based economy by luring aviation, marine and technology businesses, president Brad Lofton said. “I would hope somebody could make some good use of it,” Rice said.
