Six Flags may close nearly 50-year-old California park due to poor financial performance

Six Flags signaled it may soon permanently close one of its West Coast amusement parks, just months after the company announced its Maryland park will be shuttering its gates this fall.Six Flags California’s Great America — a 112-acre theme park that opened nearly 50 years ago in Santa Clara, California – is expected to close in October 2027, after the Halloween season and prior to the end of its current lease, People magazine reported."Unless we decide to extend, and exercise one of our options to extend that lease, that park’s last year without that extension would be after the ‘27 season," Six Flags CFO Brian Witherow said at the company’s Six Flags Investor Day 2025 on May 20.SIX FLAGS THEME PARK CLOSING AFTER MORE THAN TWO DECADES, ANNOUNCES FINAL DAY FOR RIDESWitherow said the California amusement park and Six Flags America in Maryland are the "two parks that are very low on the ranking of margins," according to People."At this time, we are still in the planning stages and are working with stakeholders and engaging the community," a spokesperson for Six Flags told Fox Business in an email. "Until we know more, we remain focused on the great season that's already underway at the park and the events ahead."SIX FLAGS MERGES WITH CEDAR FAIR TO BECOME LARGEST AMUSEMENT PARK OPERATOR IN NORTH AMERICASix Flags California’s Great America first opened its gates as Marriott’s Great Adventure in 1976. The amusement park has had several owners over the years, including Cedar Fair Entertainment Co., which went on to merge with Six Flags in 2024, according to the website for California's Great America.The California amusement park was originally built on public land, but Cedar Fair purchased the 112 acres underneath the park in 2019 for around $150 million. In 2022, Cedar Fair sold that land to real estate company Prologis for around $310 million with a lease agreement. That lease agreement is slated to end in 2028, with an option to extend the term for an additional five years, as noted in a 2022 news release from Cedar Fair.'STEEPEST, MOST INVERTED DIVE COASTER IN THE WORLD' COMING TO SIX FLAGS PARK NEXT YEARA spokesperson for Prologis, in an email to the Los Angeles Times earlier this year, said the real estate company is already working with design and planning experts to "help us create a master plan" for the Santa Clara property.Prologis did not immediately respond to FOX Business' request for comment.GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HEREThe news of the West Coast park's possible closure follows shortly after the company's May announcement that Six Flags America and Hurricane Harbor in Bowie, Maryland, will operate for the final time on Nov. 2. Six Flags decided the park, which has the oldest roller coaster across all its properties, was no longer "a strategic fit with the company’s long-term growth plan." "After reviewing a number of options, we believe that marketing the property for redevelopment will generate the highest value and return on investment," Six Flags CEO Richard Zimmerman said in a statement at the time.Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei FOX Business Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei FOX Business