New Owners Of Hard Rock Park To Keep Famous Name
February 18, 2009, 15 years ago
Meg Kinnard from Thestate.com is reporting:
One of the new owners of Hard Rock Park said Wednesday he wants to keep the rock 'n' roll theme park's famous name and hire 750 employees to get the Myrtle Beach venture back up and running by this summer.
A federal bankruptcy judge on Tuesday approved the sale of Hard Rock Park for $25 million to a group of investors, including Baker Leisure Group, which has done work for The Walt Disney Co. and Six Flags. Other investors include Freestyle Park International; Roundbox Advisors; and local investors, including Thomas Hiles and D. Tim Duncan, who helped found the park.
"The park's in great shape," Steve Baker, president and chief executive of Baker Leisure Group, said Wednesday. "It's a big effort, but we'll make it."After seven years of planning, the $400 million, 55-acre park opened last April with concerts by the EAGLES and THE MOODY BLUES and was the biggest single investment ever in South Carolina tourism. Experts said officials couldn't have picked a worse time to open because tourism drop spawned by rising gas prices, ripples from the recession and the credit crisis.
By September, the park had closed, and the company that owned it, HRP Myrtle Beach Holdings, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. No bidder who could meet the minimum price emerged when the property went up for auction in December, and the park's owner converted to Chapter 7 so assets could be liquidated to pay creditors.
Baker's Florida-based company, which worked previously with Hard Rock to grow the company's global restaurant chain, wants to get the park reopened by Memorial Day, under the Hard Rock brand.
"We're very desirous of keeping the name," Baker said. "We think that's it's a very strong brand and has instant recognition almost on a worldwide basis."Read more here.
