“The investment group aiming to reopen Kentucky Kingdom received preliminary approval Wednesday from the state Tourism Development Finance Authority for incentives to aid the amusement park.

The action at an authority meeting in Frankfort clears the way for a consultant study to ensure that the application by Kentucky Kingdom LLLP, led by investor Ed Hart, meets the criteria for incentives. The assistance could be as much as $10 million in rebated state sales tax generated by the park over 10 years.

A lease agreement for the park’s operation was approved last week by the Kentucky State Fair Board, which owns the property. Kentucky Kingdom closed in 2009, and the developers plan for it to reopen in May 2014.

The authority considers applications under the Kentucky Tourism Development Act, which allows eligible visitor-attraction projects a rebate of sales tax up to 25 percent of project capital costs over a 10-year period.

The state law requires that projects must meet certain criteria to be eligible, including having a positive economic impact and attracting at least 25 percent of its visitors from out of state.

The consultant analysis is expected to be completed within two months, according to a news release from the state Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet, which includes the tourism development panel.

Hart’s partners are businessman Bruce Lunsford, lawyer Ed Glasscock and the Al J. Schneider Co., which owns the Galt House, the Crowne Plaza and a string of commercial properties.

They see the state tourism tax credits as one of the key components to pay off $25 million they intend to borrow. Hart has hired eight managers who plan to begin inspecting the park’s rides and equipment next week….”

Courier-Journal article, published January 31, 2013

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“The Kentucky Tourism Development Finance Authority on Wednesday gave preliminary approval to a project to reopen the shuttered Kentucky Kingdom amusement park at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville.

The action by the authority means that a study will be conducted to determine if an application by Kentucky Kingdom LLLP meets the criteria for incentives, which could include as much as $10 million in tax breaks for up to 10 years. The study is expected to take six to eight weeks to complete.

Kentucky Kingdom LLLP is an investment group led by Louisville businessman Ed Hart, a former owner and operator of the park located at the state-owned fairgrounds.

A lease agreement between Hart’s group and the Kentucky State Fair Board was approved last week.

Kentucky Kingdom closed in 2009, and Hart has pledged to reopen it in May 2014.

The tourism authority considers applications for tax credits under the Kentucky Tourism Development Act, which allows eligible tourism attractions a rebate of sales tax up to 25 percent of project capital costs over a 10-year period, according to a news release.

Projects must meet certain criteria to be eligible, such as having a positive economic impact for the state and attracting at least 25 percent of its guests from outside Kentucky. The rebate is based on sales tax generated by the tourism attraction.

Hart’s financing plan for reopening Kentucky Kingdom includes a $25 million bank loan and $20 million in equity from him and his partners. Receiving the bank loan is contingent on him receiving the tax credit package…”

Business First Article, published January 30, 2013

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“Nearly three years after the bankrupt Six Flags closed Kentucky Kingdom, it now appears the operator who built the park to its peak in the 1990s will have a crack at reopening the amusement park next year.

On Thursday, the Kentucky State Fair Board signed a 50-year preliminary lease with Ed Hart’s Kentucky Kingdom LLLP — which includes investors Bruce Lunsford, Ed Glasscock and Al J. Schneider Co.’s Mary Moseley — to operate the park on state land at the fairgrounds.

The company plans to invest $45 million in rebuilding the park — $20 million from their own equity and an additional $25 million from a bank loan — and have it open by May 2014, hoping to immediately compete with regional parks such as Indiana’s Holiday World and Cincinnati’s King’s Island.

There will now be a 90-day waiting period until the lease is finalized, as Hart’s group applies for a potential $10 million in sales tax rebates from the state’s Tourism Cabinet in order to complete the stipulations of their bank loan.

While such optimism of a Kentucky Kingdom opening has unexpectedly crumbled in recent years — first with Hart’s unfruitful 18-month effort to reopen the park, followed by Holiday World’s owners suddenly backing out of a plan to reopen it as Bluegrass Boardwalk last summer — all of the parties involved assume this is the real deal.

“If there’s an earthquake we may reconsider,” Hart said during a Thursday press conference at the Crowne Plaza Hotel across the street from the fairgrounds. “But barring an act of God, I think we’re ready to go.”

The news of the agreement is a dramatic turnaround from last fall, when Gov. Steve Beshear openly doubted the prospects of Kentucky Kingdom reopening and questioned whether the state should use the land for another purpose.

But after three months of successful negotiations with the state’s Finance Cabinet, and a late concession by Mayor Greg Fischer, the prospect of bulldozers razing Kentucky Kingdom appears to have been averted.

While Kentucky Kingdom LLLP still has to jump the hurdle of being approved for tourism tax credits — which they failed to achieve in 2011 — Hart is confident such obstacles of the past are out of their way, with local and state government now fully backing the project, along with a signed lease.

Hart partly credits this deal’s success to the scrutiny and pressure of the media and local activists, which helped convince elected officials that the cost of opening Kentucky Kingdom was worth the economic impact it would have on Louisville and the state.

Considering the contentious way the negotiations between Hart and the state ended in 2011, Beshear’s words of doubt last summer — as well as the fact that the state’s request for proposals was worded in a way that disqualified Hart’s plan to have the state guarantee its bank loan — made many pessimistic that a deal would be reached.

Though Hart altered his proposal to meet the RFP, such pessimism remained following a report by WHAS citing an anonymous source “familiar with the review” who claimed the Beshear administration would reject the proposal, in part because reopening the park “would jeopardize possible future uses” of the property.

While all parties involved agreed they would not discuss negotiations in the media, Thursday’s series of press conferences and press releases touting the agreement shows the Beshear administration was eventually convinced.

From the Fair Board’s press release, Beshear touted the economic impact of an open Kentucky Kingdom, stating, “We are pleased to see that we were able to reach a mutually agreeable lease so the park can reopen as quickly as possible….”

LEO article by Joe Sonka, published January 30, 2013

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“The Ed Hart group has a top management staff in place that next week will begin to assess the condition of the long-abandoned Kentucky Kingdom amusement park at the Kentucky Exposition Center.

Hart said Monday that he has hired eight senior managers who will begin examining the rides, buildings and equipment next Monday. The park last operated in fall 2009 and some facilities have fallen into disrepair.

John Shanrock, who is relocating from South Carolina to be the park’s general manager, has 30 years of experience in the theme park industry, all within the Cedar Fair organization. William R. Hargrave, who will be director of technical services and capital improvements, has spent the past 20 years in management positions for Sam Swope’s auto business and previously worked at Kentucky Kingdom when Hart owned it. And Lesly Birkner — who has a background in the amusement industry as a professional specializing in human resource enrichment, training, operational analysis and policy development — will be director of operations.

Hart’s group has 90 days to evaluate the conditions and complete financing before the lease the Kentucky State Fair Board approved last Thursday is activated……”

Courier-Journal article, published January 29, 2013

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“In what was akin to birthing an elephant, it appears that the deal to re-open Kentucky Kingdom has finally crossed the finish line.

Unless something went terribly wrong at the Kentucky State Fair Board meeting set for Thursday afternoon after Business First’s deadline, a deal should should be in place that will allow Ed Hart and his business partners to re-open the amusement park at the fairgrounds that has been closed since 2009.

The story of the off-again, on-again attempts to re-open the park has been well documented.

The deal that finally was reached with Hart’s group is a good one for both the operators and the state. Hart and his partners will pay the state more than $70 million in rent during the next 50 years.

Some of that cost will be offset by incentives worth as much as $300,000 a year from the city and the Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau.

The city has agreed to return to the park 1.25 percent of the annual occupational tax collected from the park’s employees, which should be about $100,000 a year.

Kentucky Kingdom LLLP will receive another $100,000 a year for five years from the Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau. And Metro Council President Jim King planned to introduce a resolution Thursday night that would have the city match the amount the park would receive from the occupational tax rebate. After the group secures long-term financing, it also would be eligible for state tourism tax credits.

Hart and his partners — Bruce Lunsford, Ed Glasscock and Mary Moseley — plan to invest $45 million to get the park open next year. Plans also call for the group to invest another $70 million in the park over the course of the 50-year lease.

Getting Kentucky Kingdom re-opened is important to the community for several reasons. As a tourist attraction, it will draw people and their dollars to Louisville. That’s why it makes sense for the convention bureau to put money toward the park’s operating expenses and to help promote it.

An amusement park adds to the list of amenities that helps makes Louisville an attractive place to live. That’s important when you’re competing against neighboring cities such as Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Nashville that have popular attractions and professional sports. And Kentucky Kingdom also will provide hundreds of jobs for area teenagers.

Hart deserves much credit for his relentless pursuit of re-opening the park he originally founded. High fives also go to Lunsford, Glasscock and Moseley for stepping up to help make it happen. Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear also deserves credit for insisting that state taxpayers not be held responsible for the park’s debt should it fail.

We look forward to seeing what the new Kentucky Kingdom will look like when it opens with some new rides and a bigger water park in 2014.”

Business First Article, published January 25, 2013

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — The Kentucky State Fair Board has signed a 50-year lease with developer Ed Hart re-open Kentucky Kingdom.

Hart said Thursday afternoon in a news release, “We are beginning immediately to mobilize our staff so they can get started on the tremendous amount of work that must be done to prepare Kentucky Kingdom for a May, 2014 opening. We believe we are up to the task – and speaking on behalf of my partners and our management team, we look forward to the challenge.”

Approval of the new lease agreement Thursday by the Fair Board means the park could open as early as 2014.

The investors, Kentucky Kingdom LLLP, now must secure the final private loans – worth $25 million — before the park can open.

The investors have agreed to initially invest $45 million in the park, which has been closed since 2009.

“My partners and I are putting in $20 million dollars of equity, and we’re arranging a $25 million dollar bank loan,” says Ed Hart.

Before that happens, there’s still another step in this process.

“We have to wait for the tourism tax credits to be approved. That’s an integral part of the whole financing package and that I understand will take 2 to 3 months,” says Ed Hart.

Hart says on Thursday his group filed its application, asking for $10 million dollars in tourism tax credits. “

WDRB News, January 25, 2013

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“Friends, whether you’re talking about downtown basketball arenas, Ohio River bridges or amusement parks, what happens and how it happens always comes down to money.

Yesterday, Ed Hart and his Louisville-based group of partners finally won the right from the state to lease the Kentucky Kingdom property, which will remain Kentucky Kingdom. (The deal with Kentucky State Fair Board, which controls the property, is only final when financing is in place.)

The partners’ plan to resurrect Kentucky Kingdom is an ambitious one, essentially doing what Hart proposed two years ago, but this time without the state issuing $50 million in bonds, though the partners are applying for $2 million in state tax rebates….”

InsiderLouisville.com Article, published January 25, 2013

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“The Kentucky State Fair Board finally struck a deal Thursday with Louisville businessman Ed Hart to reopen the shuttered Kentucky Kingdom amusement park.

Hart is the former Kentucky Kingdom owner and operator who has been trying for nearly three years to reach a deal to operate the attraction. He has formed an entity called Kentucky Kingdom LLLP to be the park manager.

Under the 50-year lease agreement, the developers would invest $45 million. The investment would consist of $20 million in equity from the partners and $25 million in borrowed funds, according to Dr. Mark Lynn, a fair board member who led the negotiations on behalf of the board.

Hart’s partners in Kentucky Kingdom LLLP are Bruce Lunsford, his partner in Hart-Lunsford Pictures LLC; Ed Glasscock, chairman emeritus of Frost Brown Todd LLC law firm; and Mary Moseley, president of Al J. Schneider Co.

Ron Carmicle, chairman of the fair board, said in an interview that it was essential for Hart’s partners to be part of the deal because they help bring equity to the project.

The developers have 90 days to secure a loan, and the deal will not be finalized until that financing is obtained, Lynn said.”

Business First Article, published January 25, 2013

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) — “After three years of false starts, the long-awaited rebirth of Kentucky Kingdom is now slated for May 2014 after the Kentucky State Fair Board on Thursday approved a preliminary 50-year lease with a group of local investors.

“It is gratifying to see this project finally coming together,” lead developer Ed Hart said. “We’ve been at it for a long time.”

Two final steps remain — the approval of state tourism tax credits and the private financing of a $25 million loan. The private investors are putting up $20 million in cash.

The investors plan to pour $35 million of their $45 million initial investment into the park in the first year, including millions of dollars, immediately.

“We’re fully confident we can get it done but only because we’re taking that entrepenurial risk now,” Hart said.

The deal with the Fair Board gives Kentucky Kingdom, LLLP 90 days to secure the financing. Hart said with the help of city and state incentives and tourism bureau support, he’s confident their local bank will approve the $25 million loan.

Kentucky Kingdom LLLP will get a cut of the fairgrounds parking proceeds, roughly $900,000 per year. Incentives from the city, state and the Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau would bring the level of public support to $2.2 million each year, the same amount Hart expects in debt service on the loan.

“So, we’ve married the two,” Hart explained at a news conference. “This means that Kentucky Kingdom is virtually debt free.”

“It’s important because it allows us to take our cash and to continue to reinvest it in the facility,” Hart continued. “As we all know the very reason why Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom fell on hard times is because they had no money to invest in the facility – all the money went to handle their debt service.”

WHAS 11 news, aired January 25, 2013

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LOUISVILLE, KY (WLKY) – “Businessman Ed Hart and his fellow investors are promising to bring Louisville a first-class and safe amusement park when they reopen the long-shuttered Kentucky Kingdom.

Hart resurrected a bankrupt Kentucky Kingdom once before and turned around another theme park in Arkansas.

He isn’t giving away too much when it comes to future attractions, but his group is promising to double the size of the water park.

“We did it before. We know how to do it and we are excited about doing it again,” Hart said.

Hart and his group inherit a rundown amusement park, but said they expect to reopen every attraction except one roller coaster. Hart said the structure of the shuttle-loop coaster Greezed Lightnin’ is beyond repair.

 Hart also said wooden coaster Twisted Twins will reopen in the park’s second year.

“Why would a family automatically want to travel three hours round-trip to go to a water park in Indiana when they have one in their back yard?” Hart said, referring to Holiday World Splashin’ Safari.

The family who owns Holiday World backed out of a deal to run Kentucky Kingdom and rename it Bluegrass Boardwalk.

“Bluegrass Boardwalk was going to put in $16.5 million. We are going to put in $45 million,” Hart said……”

WLKY 32 news, aired January 25, 2013

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