A group of real estate investors hoping to transform Gilroy
Gardens into a $200 million luxury resort hope to outbid the city
for the theme park’s land, inspiring fears of noise and traffic
among the park’s neighbors.
Gilroy – A group of real estate investors hoping to transform Gilroy Gardens into a $200 million luxury resort hope to outbid the city for the theme park’s land, inspiring fears of noise and traffic among the park’s neighbors.
The plan to bring roller coasters, water rides, music theaters and a high-end hotel to the Hecker Pass Highway theme park was unveiled Friday by representatives of Alliant Real Estate and Financial Services, in Campbell. In hopes of sweetening the deal for the west Gilroy park and its nonprofit board of directors, the company and its investors announced Monday they will increase their offer on the land, a move aimed at undercutting the City of Gilroy’s efforts to purchase the site for roughly $12.4 million. Investors would not divulge the price, but said the new proposal was delivered Monday afternoon to the park’s board members.
“I would rather see the city own it than some giant corporation buy it and turn it into a massive Six Flags,” said Kimberly Clet, a resident of Rancho Vista just west of the park. She did not dismiss the idea of a water park and resort, however, suggesting she could live next to the site if it did not mean more traffic and noise.
Other neighbors of the 536-acre park were less open to the idea.
Bob and Lorna Jacks moved to the quiet road west of Gilroy Gardens 33 years ago. They moved to the area to live among farms, trees and vineyards, while remaining within reach of the city.
“It doesn’t belong out here,” Bob Jacks said of the water park.
Ron Furtado, who moved to the street five years ago, said, “I’d just as soon the park there now was not around at all, and I certainly wouldn’t want it bigger.”
Residents to the west and east, in the gated golf community of Eagle Ridge, have complained over the years about music and other noise emanating from the small park, founded in the late ’90s by former grocery store magnate Michael Bonfante. They also have had gripes about the level of weekend traffic passing along the state road that winds west out of Gilroy into the Santa Cruz Ridgeline.
Bonfante has declined twice to comment on the plan, which investors are painting as the completion of his vision for the park. The original business plan called for a convention center, among other things. Bonfante said he would not comment until “there’s more credibility to it. Things like this come out of the blue all the time.”
The proposed resort would create 1,500 full time jobs and 3,000 seasonal jobs, and Alliant representatives plan to offer busing to employees and visitors to reduce traffic, according to Robert McDuff, a consultant for Alliant and a partner in Destiny Capital Solutions, one of the investment companies behind the proposal. The investors have also proposed building an outdoor amphitheater and four indoor theaters. Shows would take place six days a week during a 10-month operating season stretching from March to December.
McDuff stressed that two roller coasters, an indoor/outdoor water park and the hotel would be shielded from view and that the park, now largely geared for young children and older adults, would stay true to its mission as an educational center and garden oasis.
“It’s not going to be something that’s an eyesore,” McDuff said. “We’re going to keep the park the way it needs to be – with trees and a lot of vegetation. The buildings will be hidden by that vegetation to an extent … We’re not going to build this cement paradise. It’s going to be a luxury, out-in-the-wilderness resort.”
James Suner, a local developer who owns land east of the park has his doubts. He and about a dozen other landowners spent five years crafting broad development plans for the Hecker Pass corridor. Their project, which will bring more than 400 homes to the area between Gilroy Gardens and Santa Teresa Boulevard, will require the landowners to spend $5 million to widen Hecker Pass, create turn lanes and a new intersection with a signal.
“They’re dreaming if they think they can pop that in there,” Suner said. “They’d have to put in at least four lanes and a signalized intersection. … It’s like putting in a new stadium for the ‘Niners.
But not everyone is prepared to write off the deal.
“Instead of (the park) going into default or the city buying it, here we have a third option,” said City Councilman Craig Gartman. “It’s something else to look at.”
Gilroy Gardens has struggled to stay out of the hands of creditors since it opened seven years ago. The park improved its financial position a year ago with the completion of a financial restructuring that reduced its debt load from $70 million to $12.4 million. The park has earned more than $1 million in profits for the last few years, but concern remains among city officials that it could still fall into the hands of developers if it fails to beef up its reserve funds by 2008, as required under the terms of the restructuring plan.
City officials are now exploring a city purchase of the land for the cost of the bonds plus some interest. Officials plan to unveil a detailed financing plan July 11.
“I want to see how this could possibly benefit not only the city but the surrounding area,” Gartman said, adding:
McDuff and his investors are touting the park’s potential economic benefits, claiming it would create 1,500 or more full-time jobs and twice that many seasonal positions. He refused to disclose the new price investors are offering for the land, but said the figure is closer to its current valuation and “substantially” more than the $12.4 million value of the park’s debt.
Prior to a revaluation last year, the park was assessed at more than $60 million, said Bob Kraemer, president of the park’s nonprofit board of directors. He could not provide the current valuation by press time.
