City and County now involved to save SFMM

[TacAlert]

Today's Daily News article http://www.dailynews.com/santaclarita/ci_4057464 indicates now the City of Santa Clarita wants to annex SFMM property into the city and show the owners there would be a tax savings as well as other benefits.

[PinBrian]

Originally Posted by TacAlert

Today's Daily News article http://www.dailynews.com/santaclarita/ci_4057464 indicates now the City of Santa Clarita wants to annex SFMM property into the city and show the owners there would be a tax savings as well as other benefits.

Is this similar to what Santa Clara did to save Great America from the wrecker's ball? I know the city operated that park for a while, but I do not know the exact specifics.

[PirateMickey]

Great America has always been inside city limits (from what I recall). Supposedly, Marriott wanted to get out of the theme park business and sold GA along with another park that they owned.

Vallejo (city) did take over Marine World until they found Six Flags to take it over. There were numerous concessions made to them to upgrade it and keep it open. Similar to SFMM stuff.

[Jspider]

while i'm not a fan of SFMM I do think that it should remain open

it has a few good rides X,Revolution and possibly Tatsu (haven't been on Tatsu yet)

and it brings decent balance to the park offerings around the area

I wish Universal would buy it or even Busch so that we could see an extention of Sea World or Universal type experiences

it'd be cool to see Universal push out of Hollywood and start building real experiences in Magic Mountain with the the space and all


either way though if Magic Mountain closes I'm betting Six Flags will remove at least a few of it's coasters (or whoever buys the place sells them) I just hope it doesn't become more houses

[cellarhound]

Originally Posted by PirateMickey

Great America has always been inside city limits (from what I recall). Supposedly, Marriott wanted to get out of the theme park business and sold GA along with another park that they owned.

Vallejo (city) did take over Marine World until they found Six Flags to take it over. There were numerous concessions made to them to upgrade it and keep it open. Similar to SFMM stuff.

GA and MW are on land still owned by their respective municipalities...

The land for MW is a segment of the Solono County Fair Complex...

Santa Carlita could play hard ball to keep MM out of the hands of developers...

[tloolgb]

Interesting. Most interesting is how SF now has only 6 parks that are really off limits to selling (how is SFoG one of them?) so I wonder if any of this save SFMM stuff will mean anything.

[Dutchman]

Another thing that is interesting is that supposedly the number one contender for the property is the company that originally built the park, Newhall Land & Farming. They own most if not all the land surrounding the park. The grading and building currently being done along Magic Mountain Parkway before you get to the parking lot gate is theirs. IMO if they do indeed buy the property they will not keep it as an amusement park. They had their stint as park owners and got out years ago. They are, by the way responsible for it's current reputation as a hangout for teens, as it what the GM at the time went for. The same person would carry that same business philosophy to Knotts when SF let him go. CF released him when they took over Knotts.

[BellaCinderella]

I haven't been in years but I hope they work something out & it doesn't close!

[Lost Boy]

I heard on KNX radio the other morning and had confirmation from a friend who's brother works in security at Magic Mountain. It appears that the Santa Clarita City Council voted in favor of the developer and announced that the sale would be made and the park would be closed, the rides torn down, and homes and retail establishments would be built on the former MM site. The money is more, the taxes are more, so it looks like its the end of Magic Mountain. Haven't heard anything since the report last Friday.

[TacAlert]

Originally Posted by Lost Boy

I heard on KNX radio the other morning and had confirmation from a friend who's brother works in security at Magic Mountain. It appears that the Santa Clarita City Council voted in favor of the developer and announced that the sale would be made and the park would be closed, the rides torn down, and homes and retail establishments would be built on the former MM site. The money is more, the taxes are more, so it looks like its the end of Magic Mountain. Haven't heard anything since the report last Friday.

Nothing heard in the papers out here. With the way the news has been covering this, I think that would have made headlines.

Nothing on the KNX website.

Nothing in the City of Santa Clarita City Council notes on their website either.

Good rumor though

[Photoshop Falcon]

For a city or a county to let the park be sold to developers would but crazy, They would be loosing millions of dollars in sales tax and any tourist money, they would only get a percent property tax that the state gives them, plus the city or county would have to provide water, sewer, trash, fire, roads, police etc. to the new community, the property tax don't cover half of that.

[sir clinksalot]

Originally Posted by Dutchman

Another thing that is interesting is that supposedly the number one contender for the property is the company that originally built the park, Newhall Land & Farming. They own most if not all the land surrounding the park. The grading and building currently being done along Magic Mountain Parkway before you get to the parking lot gate is theirs. IMO if they do indeed buy the property they will not keep it as an amusement park. They had their stint as park owners and got out years ago. They are, by the way responsible for it's current reputation as a hangout for teens, as it what the GM at the time went for. The same person would carry that same business philosophy to Knotts when SF let him go. CF released him when they took over Knotts.

I wouldn't be so quick to blam NL&F. They haven't owned the park for YEARS. IMO some of the best years for the park were the late-80's through early 90's, after they left. Time Warner owned the park. Most of the original rides were still in great condition. They had just added Viper, Ninja and Batman. There was still a nice collection of non-coaster rides, shows, etc. The park was clean, well run, etc.

Oh yeah, regarding the Security guard thing ... what do they know? Asking a SFMM Security Guard about the park closing is worse than asking a Disneyland CM what the next attraction is going to be.

[Dutchman]

It was during the tenure of NL&F last GM Terry Van Gorder that they went heavily after the teen market. He would later do the same at Knotts

[TacAlert]

No deal yet.

Today's Daily News article (07/20/06)
http://www.dailynews.com/santaclarita/ci_4071405

[TacAlert]

Just posting nothing to get my 100th post. Yeah for me!