The sale of Santa Monica Pier’s Pacific Park to CNL Income Partners, LP for $34 million was approved unanimously by Santa Monica’s City Council on Dec. 14.
Terms of the sale provide for Santa Monica Amusements (SMA), LLC to continue to operate Pacific Park as a subtenant with the current management team. The City staff report states that the City, as the landlord, will receive a one-time payment of a transfer premium of about $1.4 million.
The staff report mentioned the Council’s approval would give consent for the transfer of the leasehold interest to the CNL Income Pacific Park, LLC as to the lease. CNL Income Pacific Park TRS Corporation was also created to “receive a portion of the personal property used to operate the Park from SMA and sublease this personal property back to SMA” for continued operation and management. This also will create reserves for capital expenditures and repairs.
The Santa Monica Pier Restoration Corporation’s (SMPRC) Board gave its endorsement on Dec. 6 of the sale and the lease agreement because it was consistent with SMPRC’s leasing guidelines.
CNL Income Pacific Park, LLC and CNL Income Pacific Park TRS Corporation are subsidiaries of CNL Income Properties, L.P., which is a subsidiary of Orlando, Florida based CNL Lifestyle Properties, Incorporated. Other amusement parks that are held by CNL Lifestyle Properties include Elitch Gardens in Denver, Darien Lakes in Buffalo, and Magic Springs and Crystal Falls in Arkansas.
Pacific Park is a two-acre admission-free amusement park that contains 12 rides. The park also contains Midway Games which is also known as the Pier Pressure Zone and an oceanfront food plaza.
There was no public input on this issue at the Council meeting.
