Georgia Attractions Operator to Buy Cypress Gardens

WINTER HAVEN, FL-The shuttered, 68-year-old Cypress Gardens water sports-theme attraction here will have new owners by Feb. 24 if a complex deal orchestrated by Washington, DC-based Trust For Public Land goes through.

After eight months of deciding how to keep the landmark Florida attraction from the clutches of commercial real estate developers, the trust has worked out a three-party deal that could allow it to recoup most of the $22 million it will be paying initially for the 150-acre property.

Under the deal, which still has to be approved by Gov. Jeb Bush and his six-member Cabinet, the trust would pay Cypress Gardens owners Larry Maxwell and William Reynolds $22 million, or $154,930 per acre, by Feb. 24. The trust then would sell 120 acres to Kent Buescher, owner-operator of the Wild Adventures attraction in Valdosta, GA, for $7 million, or $58,333 per acre. The remaining 30-acre botanical gardens, considered the centerpiece of the park, would be purchased by Polk County and the City of Winter Haven for $2.5 million, or $83,333 per acre.