Denver’s Elitch Gardens has been purchased from CNL Lifestyle Properties by a group of local investors.
The investor team has ties to Stan Kroenke of Kroenke Sports Entertainment, which owns a slew of sports arenas and teams in the Denver area.
In 2007, Six Flags sold the amusement park and six other properties to PARC Management, who later sold the parks to CNL.
Premier Parks, LLC has been operating the park for CNL since 2013 (Herschend operated the park from 2011-2013). As part of the purchase deal, Premier will continue to operate the park. No staffing changes are expected.
Ironically, Premier operated the park from 1996 until 1998 when the group was bought by Six Flags.
Elitch Garden is often touted as one of the few amusement parks located in an urban downtown area. The park is located on what is likely valuable land, so it’s understandable to think that some might worry what the investors have planned for the park. But according to this article in the Denver Post, they have no plans for redeveloping the park:
Despite the presence of two residential and commercial investors, the partnership has no plans for developing the park. There is no empty land in the deal; it’s all park. And there have been no talks about redevelopment, Revesco CEO Rhys Duggan said.
“We love the park. It’s a great business that just happens to be located on an important piece of land for the city,” said Duggan, who owns the Shoppes at Castle Rock and LoHi’s Old Major restaurant building. “There is no redevelopment plan. It’s a great opportunity to buy an operating business. We will look at it over time, as we do with all of our assets. But right now, it’s business as usual for the park.”
This year, the park is celebrating 125 years. Elitch Garden opened at its current location in 1995 after moving from another area of Denver where it had operated since 1890.
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