JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The operator of the Adventure Landing water park in Jacksonville Beach has made arrangements to close by the end of October and may close its Westside operation after this weekend.
A schedule for the Beaches park’s shutdown was outlined in a lease included in a bankruptcy court filing for the parent company of Adventure Holdings LLC and other businesses controlled by NRP Lease Holdings, LLC.
“Tenant acknowledges and agrees that it shall (a) cease all operations … on October 31, 2021,” reads the agreement between Adventure Holdings manager Henry Woodburn and the president of JB Fair Park MF LLC, the investment company that bought the property in February.
The agreement, which a bankruptcy judge approved this month, says Adventure Holdings will clear out its equipment from the site at 1944 Beach Blvd. in Jacksonville Beach by the end of February following October's shutdown.
“JB Fair acquired the Beach Boulevard property for development purposes and desires that the … property be vacated,” Richard Thames, an attorney for Adventure Holdings, explained in a motion filed last month as part of a 2019 case involving reorganizing debts for NRP Lease Holdings.
The motion didn’t say what’s planned for the new development.
Phone messages to Woodburn weren’t returned.
The Jacksonville Daily Record reported that it contacted Woodburn Tuesday and that he said the Beach Boulevard park will “probably [close], but we’re not sure yet,” and that he’s considering moving to another spot.
The newspaper also said Woodburn reported the Adventure Landing site at 4825 Blanding Blvd. “will be closing this Sunday” and has been sold for redevelopment for use by Amazon, which has a delivery station nearby.
An employee at the Blanding water park confirmed the site was closing after the weekend and referred a reporter to a manager, who said he wasn't authorized to speak about the property's future.
Property records don’t reflect the property having been sold, but they show that two adjacent parcels facing Wesconnett Boulevard were bought this month by BYT LLC, a subsidiary of a Gainesville development company, LOTE Group LLC.
The Daily Record said LOTE is listed as the developer on a building permit application that envisions demolishing the Blanding fun park and creating off-site parking for Amazon’s DJX2 delivery station at 4656 Blanding.
The Jacksonville Beach park, which opened in 1995, has been the flagship of NRP Lease Holdings' 13 sites in seven states.
The business began a big remodeling of the park in 2018 but ran into financial trouble that Thames said stemmed from a long season of bad weather that drove down attendance at a lot of the other parks. That led to borrowing and financial complications that the COVID-19 pandemic only amplified.