The details emerging about Bonfante Gardens’ enormous debt and
its struggles to repay it do not paint a promising picture.
The company has a staggering $70 million dollars in IOUs
– $28 million in secured municipal bonds, which are similar to
mortgages.
The details emerging about Bonfante Gardens’ enormous debt and its struggles to repay it do not paint a promising picture.
The company has a staggering $70 million dollars in IOUs – $28 million in secured municipal bonds, which are similar to mortgages. If you miss enough payments on your home loan, the bank will foreclose. The same is true of secured bondholders, at least one of whom is calling for just that action to occur after Bonfante Gardens failed to make a $200,000 payment in December.
The park also has debt in the form $10 million dollars in unsecured municipal bonds and $32 million in private loans.
That’s a staggering debt load, and the fact that Bonfante has missed several payments on its various bond debts is worrisome: Is the burden perhaps too much for the beautiful and innovative horticulture-themed amusement park to bear?
Couple that with a disputed $2 million property tax bill, and it looks like Bonfante Gardens ought to install an attraction featuring fountains of red ink.
But hope, in this case, must spring eternal. The majority bondholder, Putnam Securities, has the final say on any foreclosure decision. It is in no rush to put Bonfante Gardens on the auction block. That’s likely due to another optimistic omen: The management partnership with Paramount Parks, which debuted last year, helped the park turn its first profit. So Putnam is content to bet on the outcome and let the park continue to operate, which also gives them time to work out a buyout of junior bondholders who own $10 million in bonds without liens.
Bonfante Gardens Board President Bob Kraemer says the financial turnaround last year provides “… such an incredible signal that people believe in the process.”
But Gilroyans – and all South Valley residents who love having Bonfante Gardens as a neighbor need to take that to heart. We all have an important part to play in helping make the amusement park a success and keeping it as a permanent part of our community.
Bonfante Gardens fans need to visit the park – often. Buy a season pass for every member of your family, and use it. Spend some of your disposable income on food and fun at the park as often as you can. Plan a company event or a family reunion at the park’s picnic facilities.
Tell your friends who live in the Bay Area, the Central Valley and along the Central Coast about Bonfante Gardens. When far-flung friends and family visit, spend a day showing them Gilroy’s horticultural treasure.
If we want to keep the repo man at bay, if we want to spare Bonfante Gardens the same fate as Indian Motorcycle, if we want our children’s children to wonder at circus trees, then we all have to do our parts by supporting the park with our wallets as well as our words.
