Cedar Fair to acquire CGA land

[BoddaH1994]

This is a little surprising.

https://www.coaster101.com/2019/03/27/cedar-fair-acquiring-land-under-californias-great-america/

[IndyGuy4KI]

Sounds like a good move!

[CoastersRZ]

With them purchasing the land, they clearly see value in this park that they once thought about selling.  It is one of the few Cedar Fair parks I have yet to visit (Michigan`s Adventure and Valleyfair being the other two I have yet to visit).

[BoddaH1994]

They should have bought it before the stadium was built.  I'm sure they'll pay a king's ransom for it now.

[CoastersRZ]

I wonder if they will get some of the parking revenue from the stadium.

[Kenban]

I should point out this information has actually been known for a few weeks, it was in the 2018 annual report.  The park is purchasing 112 acres and is paying $150 million.  According to the annual report they executed the right of first refusal clause of their lease.

For anyone wondering about parking, this is just the land under the park itself and does not include the parking lot.

[CoastersRZ]

So does the city own the land that the parking lots sit on?

[Kenban]

7 hours ago, CoastersRZ said:

So does the city own the land that the parking lots sit on?

The county owns it.  The stadium is technically owned by the Santa Clara Stadium Authority, but my understanding was that the land was never transferred to the authority.  Employee parking is in the back corner of the park and would be included in the land being purchased by Cedar Fair.

[fryoj]

10 hours ago, CoastersRZ said:

With them purchasing the land, they clearly see value in this park that they once thought about selling.  It is one of the few Cedar Fair parks I have yet to visit (Michigan`s Adventure and Valleyfair being the other two I have yet to visit).

Or they feel they can sell it easier if they own the land. Either way it goes, it makes sense to buy the land. 

[westcoaster]

great move

[malem]

13 hours ago, BoddaH1994 said:

They should have bought it before the stadium was built.  I'm sure they'll pay a king's ransom for it now.

It's not a certainty that Santa Clara would have considered an amusement park the highest and best use for that land, if not for the stadium and Cedar Fair's long-term plan for the park. The stadium does limit parking and operations (eg. on 49'ers game days), so the land under the park might be worth less than it would now if the stadium didn't exist.

In any case, I'm glad that the future of CGA is secured.

[rhyano]

Cedar Fair announced intentions to buy the land back in 2016, good for the park and hopefully it'll remove even more barriers around what is proposed at that property.

[Oldiesmann]

Acquisition is now complete... https://ir.cedarfair.com/news/news-details/2019/Cedar-Fair-Completes-the-Acquisition-of-Land-Beneath-Californias-Great-America-in-Santa-Clara/default.aspx

[Leland Wykoff]

The cost of the CGA land was a bargain when considering the lease payments were very close to the bond debt payments on the purchase price.  Essentially Cedar Fair has converted lease payments to actually acquiring a valuable asset.

The sale issue were propelled by a change in California law.  No longer are Economic Development entities allowed to own land mortgaged/bonded on the public dime (this is a shortened explination of a more complex issue--but it suffices to assist in understanding the sale and purchase).  California agencies had to sell the land.  Fortunately FUN stepped up and acquired the property for approximately a million three hundred fourty thousand dollars per acre.

Cedar Fair did quite well in this deal.  They secure the future of the site along with the future value of improvements they may make.  Cedar Fair has also eliminated much political uncertainty involving the site.

Cedar Fair funded the purchase price by rolling it into the corporate bonds recently sold which also funded the Texas water park and resort purchases.