Businesses Fret Over Gardens' Closing

The gamble paid off, but now Gail Ward, the Creamery's general manager, is worried her sales will drop when the theme park closes for three months to renovate. Ward said she is shocked and upset by the closing, and worries that business owners in the area will lose out on the winter visitors who frequent the park for its botanical gardens.

"It's never been closed during the winter, and I'm very upset that they don't have concerts anymore," said Ward, who grew up going to Cypress Gardens and is an annual pass holder. "I feel kind of ripped off."

The news of the park's temporary closing and planned transformation was received with mixed feelings in Winter Haven. Closing the park for three months will not be easy for hotels and restaurant owners who are already struggling from the sagging economy, said Bob Gernert, executive director of the Winter Haven Chamber of Commerce.

Cypress Gardens will close beginning Monday and there are plans to reopen in March with an expanded water park. The park will no longer have rides or the animal attractions, company officials said.

"This is a big change, and it was a difficult decision on a lot of fronts," co-owner Brian Philpot said Monday.

For its last weekend before the temporary closing, park officials are offering $10 admission as a thank you to patrons. When the park reopens, admission and annual passes will be offered at a cheaper rate, Philpot said.

a long, BUMPY road

The park has struggled financially in recent years. A nonprofit conservation group helped arrange its purchase by Kent Buescher in 2004, but after three years the park was sold at a bankruptcy auction. Philpot and Rob Harper, partners in the Mulberry-based Land South Holdings, bought the park in October 2007 for $16.8 million.

The botanical gardens and the ski shows will be kept, the owners said.

Concerts will still take place at the park but less frequently than in the past, Philpot said.

The botanical gardens are protected by the deal reached in 2003 between the Trust for Public Land, a Florida-based national nonprofit land conservation group, and First Gardens L.C., the attraction's owners at the time.

For $22 million, the trust purchased 142 acres, which included the original botanical gardens, the water ski arena, the Southern Crossroads including the Snively Mansion, the butterfly conservatory and the entertainment arena.

Polk County paid $2.5 million to help protect the 30-acre botanical gardens, and other uses are prohibited by the state's agreement, said Linda McKinley, a deputy attorney in the Polk County Attorney's Office.

tough decisions

The move to expand the water park and to eliminate the 38 rides and animal exhibits came after what the owners say was months of exhaustive analysis. The decision to renovate now was a result of the park experiencing a slow period during this time of year, the park owners said.

They said improvements include adding a parking area and moving the main entrance back to where it was years ago. The new parking area will be closer to the water park and gardens than the current one. Cypress Gardens will also add a display featuring the history of Cypress Gardens.

"The main thing was we were concerned about our employees," Philpot said. "We've been thinking about it and contemplating it and as soon as we made the decision we implemented our plan."

Philpot said he and his partner are not planning to build condominiums, one of several rumors floating about their future plans.

Anne Blanger and her husband, Emile, paid $140 for annual passes Friday and if the park was going to close for three months, she wishes the announcement had been made sooner.

"It's very disappointing," said Blanger, a winter visitor from Connecticut who lives in Winter Haven for six months of the year.

Philpot said Monday the management wants to do right by the pass holders but what that entails hasn't been determined yet.

"We apologize to those people that happened to," Philpot said. "We made the decision in the middle of last week. We cut off pass sales over the weekend. She was one of the few that we let slip."

those affected

Cypress Gardens has about 200 hourly workers, most of them part time, and 15 full-time, salaried employees, according to Philpot.

One of those workers learned about the park's closing Monday from a story in The Ledger. The employee wished there had been more long-term notice instead of one week.

"The employees were taken by surprise," said the employee, who didn't want to be identified. "I'm in limbo here. I'm going to wait and see what the details are. I don't think you'll ever build a business by closing it."

Gernert, the chamber executive director, said he wants the park to be successful and talked with the owners Monday morning about their plans.

"As long as we can do that and maintain the botanical gardens, then what they are proposing is a good solution," he said. "No one is going to operate that park out of the goodness of their hearts. It's got to make a profit."

Gary Slade, editor of Amusement Today, a theme park publication based in Arlington, Texas, said it's necessary for the park to close to make the changes.

"Certainly, I never want to see a park that's in a year-round climate close during the winter months but in this situation, I understand why they're doing it."

[ Merissa Green can be reached at merissa.green@theledger.com or 863-401-6968.]