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California's Great America - Park sold, eventually closing

Oh no, they could've built another [Insert Cedar Fair barbeque here].

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"The action zone would have received a retro nostalgic overlay, anchored by the Great American Revolution giantFerris wheel and a new giga coaster. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic..."

Damn. What a waste. Although TBF I think that giga might have been the Megabyte coaster that got ruined due to earthquake requirements.
 
Fresh this morning, lease termination has been moved up to June 30, 2028, although a five-year extension is still agreed upon as an option. Leaving the paywalled article below;
SANTA CLARA — The lease that enables California’s Great America amusement park to operate at its long-time South Bay site could be terminated in just over three years from now, public records show.

Prologis, a real estate titan, could terminate the lease its affiliate has provided to California’s Great America for the land beneath the iconic theme park in Santa Clara as soon as June 30, 2028, documents filed on Jan. 6 with the Santa Clara County Recorder’s Office.


This means the theme park might halt operations by no later than mid-2028, slightly more than three years hence.

In 2022, a Prologis affiliate paid $310 million for 112.6 acres at 1 Great America Parkway, where the theme park has operated for decades.

As part of the deal, Prologis agreed to lease back to Cedar Fair, the amusement park’s operator and owner, the land the Prologis unit had just bought. In July 2024, Cedar Fair and Six Flags Entertainment completed a “merger of equals.” The new company retained the Six Flags name although former Cedar Fair management staff, including the chief executive officer, became the new company’s principal leaders.

Prologis and Cedar Fair completed the updated lease agreement on Dec. 31, the county documents show.

At the point the initial term of the lease expires in mid-2028, the amusement park operator could exercise an option to extend the lease for one five-year period.

Six Flags and Cedar Fair were major operators of amusement and theme parks prior to the merger, a status that continues today.

The regional amusement park business was jolted by the economic fallout from wide-ranging shutdowns ordered by government agencies to combat the coronavirus.

A 2022 regulatory filing around the time San Francisco-based Prologis bought the property indicated that the park could, at this point, close on a swifter time frame than the lease agreement.

“The lease is subject to a right in favor of Prologis to terminate the lease early by providing at least two years’ prior notice,” Cedar Fair stated in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing in June 2022.

It’s not clear whether Prologis has given or is preparing to give that prior notice as outlined in the SEC filing.

Prologis bought enough Santa Clara land through its purchase that an array of development opportunities are possible.

Housing, advanced manufacturing, industrial sites, logistics and warehouse hubs, offices, shops, restaurants and entertainment hubs are among the uses that could be built on the property, which is on Great America Parkway between U.S. Highway 101 and Tasman Drive.
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Source
 
Not sure this is new news though? Original sale of land in 2022 was for 6 years lease, so upto 2028 anyway - and with a one-time 5 year option on top of that, so 2033.

The bit I don't think we'd seen before was that "Prologis to terminate the lease early by providing at least two years’ prior notice" part?

Anyway, park is goosed whichever way you look at it. :(
 
davidm said:
Not sure this is new news though? Original sale of land in 2022 was for 6 years lease, so upto 2028 anyway - and with a one-time 5 year option on top of that, so 2033.

The bit I don't think we'd seen before was that "Prologis to terminate the lease early by providing at least two years’ prior notice" part?

Anyway, park is goosed whichever way you look at it. :(
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The two-year notice is not news either. It was discussed back when the deal was announced.
 
Man, it's been awhile since we've seen a major US theme park just up and close forever, hasn't it?

Last ones I can remember are SFNO, Astroworld and Geauga Lake, and those three closings were all roughly 20 years ago now.


Also, if the past is anything to go by, none of the 5 wooden coasters from those three parks were ever relocated......

Many of their steel coasters were.

Just saying.
 
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Steely Dan said:
Man, it's been awhile since we've seen a major US theme park just up and close forever, hasn't it?

Last ones I can remember are SFNO, Astroworld and Geauga Lake, and those three closings were all roughly 20 years ago now.


Also, if the past is anything to go by, none of the 5 wooden coasters from those three parks were ever relocated......

Many of their steel coasters were.

Just saying.
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Ehhhh coaster-wise there's not much that can be salvaged from that park coaster-wise. The two B&M's will reach their end of life with the park and aren't valuable enough to refurbish. Railblazer is a difficult piece of prototype hardware that would have a hard time wooing buyers. Likewise we'd be hard-pressed to see the two Arrows and Grizzly live on elsewhere.

Gold Striker could always move on given the right place to salvage it, but the emphasis on doom seems to be more enthusiast bait than anything else. If they theoretically made the decision to pull out of the lease three years early and just can the park about a month after re-certifying it, the second call after that wouldn't be to immediately scrap that particular ride.
 
I feel like Railblazer would be pretty easy to relocate. And given it's intense nature in a small footprint, I'd imagine there are park who wouldn't mind getting it.

What will really be missed at the park will be the flat rides. It still has a working Enterprise, Calypso, and Bayern Kurve. Let's hope they can all find a home somewhere else, though I'm not sure how optimistic I am.

And I really doubt anything can happen to the Von Roll Skyway/Eagle's Flight... so it'll be sad to see yet another one of those bite dust.
 
You want Railblazer at Michigan's Adventure. I want Railblazer at Michigan's Adventure. Give the people what they want!
 
I’m going to be in the US at the end of May/start of June, and I’m trying to rejig my plans to fit in a visit.

I’m having flashbacks to when I booked a last-minute trip to SFMM when it had closure looming over it, except this time it is a matter of when and not if.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
rideguy70 said:
I feel like Railblazer would be pretty easy to relocate. And given it's intense nature in a small footprint, I'd imagine there are park who wouldn't mind getting it.
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What Jeffery Siebert told us when we were at SFSA for Railblazer to get relocated would require the new park to do all of the same maintanence work and fixing Wonder Woman at SFSA is getting/has got and that's unlikely to be finnancially viable for most parks in the country, especially now that SF and CF have merged.
 
TPoseOnTantrum said:
Gold Striker could always move on given the right place to salvage it
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Of course it could be moved, but when was the last time a major full-size woodie on the scale of Gold Striker carefully disassembled and rebuilt at a new home?

It's been so long now I can't even remember.

Was it the Comet from Crystal Beach to SFGE way back in '94? (And even then, Comet is not a full blooded woodie as the super structure is steel).
 
TPoseOnTantrum said:
Ehhhh coaster-wise there's not much that can be salvaged from that park coaster-wise. The two B&M's will reach their end of life with the park and aren't valuable enough to refurbish. Railblazer is a difficult piece of prototype hardware that would have a hard time wooing buyers. Likewise we'd be hard-pressed to see the two Arrows and Grizzly live on elsewhere.

Gold Striker could always move on given the right place to salvage it, but the emphasis on doom seems to be more enthusiast bait than anything else. If they theoretically made the decision to pull out of the lease three years early and just can the park about a month after re-certifying it, the second call after that wouldn't be to immediately scrap that particular ride.
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Youngster Joey said:
What Jeffery Siebert told us when we were at SFSA for Railblazer to get relocated would require the new park to do all of the same maintanence work and fixing Wonder Woman at SFSA is getting/has got and that's unlikely to be finnancially viable for most parks in the country, especially now that SF and CF have merged.
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Ah man I was hoping ValleyFair would take a shot at it.
 
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