FILE PhotoLOUISVILLE, KY.- The former
Kentucky Kingdom theme park has gotten one step closer to re-opening.
Paperwork filed last week
shows the Louisville-based investment group is willing to make a $50 million start-up
investment soon. The company called, Kentucky
Kingdom Redevelopment Company was
created by investor Ed Hart to bring back the much loved amusement park.
Hart
said Monday his group would make a $120 million investment -- including $50
million in start-up funding and $70 million over the term of the lease with the
state. His group says it will restore all but one of the existing rides, add
four rides and double the size of its water park.
As part of
the development the company says they will not ask for any money from the state
to get the project started.
"We're not asking the state to put up any cash at
all," Hart said in a news conference Monday. "So that's $120
million that we're putting into the facility, and our goal and our vision for
Kentucky Kingdom is to return it as the state's number one paid tourist
attraction."
The company plans
on restoring all but one of the existing rides, adding four rides and doubling
the size of the water park.
Six
Flags Inc. closed Kentucky Kingdom in February 2010. At the time, Kentucky
Kingdom was the state's largest theme park.
No date
has been released for the start of construction.
