Siegel Sets Sights on Cypress Gardens Lease

State government spokespersons tell GlobeSt.com Siegel's letter is being reviewed by Bob Ballard, deputy secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, which is discussing the acquisition with park owners. No timetable has been set for any of the deals.

The site is 60 miles south of Downtown Orlando. Winter Haven has been the spring training camp location for the Kansas City Royals.

Siegel, president and founder of Central Florida Investments Inc., couldn't be reached at GlobeSt.com's publication deadline. But individual investors who have worked with Siegel over the past 30 years, tell GlobeSt.com the developer would quickly revive the 67-year-old, Polk County attraction if he were in charge.

"David always plays to win, even if you are flipping pennies with him on a street corner," says one investor who asked for anonymity "because I'm still doing deals with David."

The park closed April 13 after attendance had fallen to 150,000 per year from an average 1.2 million over the past several years.

While the state acquisition deal is in play, other deals are also stirring for the prime dirt at Cypress Gardens, industrial real estate brokers in a position to know tell GlobeSt.com. Kent Buescher, president and CEO of Wild Adventures in Valdosta, GA, remains interested in buying the property.

Meanwhile, Larry Maxwell and former Anheuser-Busch executive William Reynolds, two equity partners in Cypress Gardens, are quietly drawing plans of their own for a redevelopment of the site, Polk County brokers following the park's progress tell GlobeSt.com. Maxwell and Reynolds couldn't be reached.

The Polk County Property Appraiser's office assesses the 300 acres at Cypress Gardens at $12 million or $40,000 per acre. But industrial brokers, familiar with the park's commercial development potential, tell GlobeSt.com, some of the lakefront dirt and interior land could go for a combined average of $300,000 per acre or a total $90 million.