Kennywood, Sandcastle, Idlewild, Lake Compounce and More For Sale!
The rumors have been swirling for some time now that Kennywood, Sandcastle, Idlewild, Lake Compunce and more will all be sold. Well, according to Reuters, this may be true..
Before we get into the details, let’s take a step back up and fill everyone in on what’s going on here. Most of the “yinzers” aka Pittsburgh’ers know of Kennywood being in a group of parks with Sandcastle and Idlewild park. While true, the company that owns these three properties also own many many more parks throughout the world.
Lets’s take a look at this umbrella of operations. Kennywood is owned by a company called Palace Entertainment which is an American amusement and entertainment company located in Newport Beach, California. Palace currently operates 40 amusement parks, water parks, and family entertainment centers throughout the United States.
Now, keep following… Parques Reunidos is an international entertainment operator based in Madrid, Spain who operates over 50 parks in almost a dozen countries. One of the groups Parques Reunidos owns is Palace Entertainment. Parques Reunidos is owned by London-based private equity firm Arle Capital Partners.
According to a report from Reuters, London-based Apax Partners (a private investment group) is looking to finance a deal worth 1.2 billion to purchase Parques Reunidos from current owner Arle Capital Partners. Apax is said to be the preferred bidder for the company, which private equity owner Arle Capital is indeed looking to sell. Arle is pushing to wrap up a sale before the Spanish general election on December 20th.
SO… What does that mean for Kennywood, Lake Compounce, SandCastle, Idlewild etc? They all might have a new owner very soon. The transaction would be for the entire umbrella of parks, so the general public may not notice any changes at these individual parks at all. Then again, maybe this will be the time Kennywood makes their long rumored expansion.
In March of 2006, the company bought 43 acres of adjacent land in Duquesne for $2.6 million. It was planning to build a hotel and indoor water park on the site of the former Kmart shopping plaza, across Route 837 from the main park and on the same side of the road as the parking lots. They own the land, but the plans never materialized. Since then the park has also purchased the large valley behind the Jack Rabbit and Racer from the Union Railroad. Sources tell us the park also owns another piece of land in the photo labeled as unknown.
There has been a rumor the past few years that Kennywood is getting ready to install a new roller coaster, but nothing has been confirmed. The last major roller coaster installed at the park was Sky Rocket in 2010.
Take a front seat ride on Sky Rocket below!
In 2016, Kennywood will unveil a re-vamped Noah’s Ark and Enterprise ride. Click here for videos of the construction progress.
Kennywood is currently offering it’s Holiday Lights event on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in December, except for Christmas Day. The park then closes for the winter, and re-opens for a new season on May 7, 2016.
Keep checking back for more updates on all the latest happenings at Kennywood. For tickets and more information, visit the official Kennywood website by clicking here.
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