Paramount Parks, the company that owns Great America in Santa
Clara, has inked a five-year deal to manage Gilroy’s picturesque
but financially troubled Bonfante Gardens Theme Park.
GILROY – Paramount Parks, one of the nation’s leading theme park operators and the company that owns Great America in Santa Clara, has inked a five-year deal to manage Gilroy’s picturesque but financially troubled Bonfante Gardens Theme Park – and the first message to the community is a positive one.
“The park will reopen,” reported Bob Kraemer, president of the park’s board of directors.
And in the long run, park leaders believe the move will also help the horticultural wonderland nestled into Hecker Pass run more efficiently and draw the people it needs to achieve financial success.
“We bring you some very good news tonight,” Kraemer told the Gilroy City Council in announcing the deal Monday night. “We believe this is the start of a very good future.”
Paramount officials said the agreement fits in with their Bay Area business objectives and strategy, and expressed excitement over the prospect of managing a park that’s known in the industry for its uniqueness, quality and unparalleled beauty.
Paramount Parks President and CEO Al Weber, who visited Bonfante Gardens and met with the park’s founder and creator, Michael Bonfante, said the park is “highly respected” in the theme park world and “a beautiful property.”
“We’re proud they’ve chosen us to manage the park,” he said.
“It’s a beautiful park and we think it has a lot of opportunities to grow,” added Bob White, the vice president of marketing at Great America who will be a part of a Paramount management team scheduled to descend on Bonfante Gardens beginning today.
Business plan tops agenda
The team’s objective will be to put together a business plan in short order for approval by the park’s local board, which includes City Councilman Al Pinheiro. Bonfante Gardens is a non-profit entity formed to provide benefit for the city of Gilroy.
Although the agreement officially begins March 1, Paramount officials – specializing in human resources, finance, operations, marketing and other areas – were expected to begin swarming on the park immediately to evaluate needs and start hammering out a business plan.
Under the management agreement approved by Bonfante’s nonprofit board of directors last week, Paramount will be responsible for all day-to-day operations. It will also provide strategic guidance on financial decisions and long-range planning to the nonprofit’s board, which will maintain overall oversight authority over the business plan for the park and make decisions on capital investments.
“It will be Paramount’s job to ascertain the business environment there, make recommendations to run the park and have it done in the most cost-effective way possible,” White said.
Paramount could also make recommendations on larger, more strategic changes – such as hypothetical new rides or nationally licensed cartoon characters – but officials said those would probably come farther down the line and be subject to board approval.
Family, flowers theme intact
Park and Paramount officials stressed they plan to preserve the park’s theme and character as a family-oriented, horticulturally based operation that stresses natural beauty.
“We think it’s well-positioned for families with young children,” White said. “It’s a beautiful place and is manageable size for children. We do think the park has a future or otherwise we wouldn’t have been involved.”
The deal is not a sale or acquisition of any kind, Kraemer stressed.
“All of the corporate activities of Bonfante Gardens remain under the board,” he said. “Everything to do with ownership of equipment and financing of the park itself is our responsibility. It doesn’t mean they don’t bring a powerful force of consultants and so forth to guide it in the future, but the ownership of the park remains as it is now.”
Paramount officials also stressed that they are making no investment in the park.
“Our role is to advise the board over those kinds of issues,” White said. “We absolutely do not have an investment in the park.”
Paramount and Bonfante officials kept many specifics close to the vest Monday, such as financial terms of the compensation package Paramount will receive and whether or what kind of incentives are built into the agreement.
But park officials said the new management agreement will bring increased marketing clout and a wealth of operational experience necessary to run the park efficiently and expand its attendance.
“Obviously this is someone that has the knowledge and the history, and this is what they do for a living,” Pinheiro said. “They’ll be bringing in people that have years and years of experience in this, and that can only be positive because they have track records and have been managing parks throughout the world.”
The Bonfante board has dealt with several companies in recent months since it closed the park early last fall, Kraemer said, but Paramount was seen as the best match for long-term success.
“We think we couldn’t have a better match,” he said. “They provide us the financial stability and organization to allow us to get in this year, and a a top-notch management team.”
