The details emerging about Bonfante Gardens’ enormous debt and
its struggles to repay it do not paint a promising picture.
The company has a staggering $70 million dollars in IOUs
– $28 million in secured municipal bonds, which are similar to
mortgages. If you miss enough payments on your home loan, the bank
will foreclose. The same is true of secured bondholders, at least
one of whom is calling for just that action to occur after Bonfante
Gardens failed to make a $200,000
payment in December.
The details emerging about Bonfante Gardens’ enormous debt and its struggles to repay it do not paint a promising picture.
The company has a staggering $70 million dollars in IOUs – $28 million in secured municipal bonds, which are similar to mortgages. If you miss enough payments on your home loan, the bank will foreclose. The same is true of secured bondholders, at least one of whom is calling for just that action to occur after Bonfante Gardens failed to make a $200,000 payment in December.
The park also has debt in the form $10 million dollars in unsecured municipal bonds and $32 million in private loans.
That’s a staggering debt load, and the fact that Bonfante has missed several payments on its various bond debts is a troubling sign that the burden is too much for the struggling horticulture-themed amusement park.
Couple that with a disputed $2 million property tax bill, and it looks like Bonfante Gardens ought to install an attraction featuring fountains of red ink.
It’s important to remember there are positive signs. The majority bondholder, who, under new rules adopted by the Gilroy City Council, has the final say on any foreclosure decision, is in no rush to put Bonfante Gardens on the auction block. That’s likely due to another optimistic omen: The management partnership with Paramount Parks, which debuted last year, helped the park turn its first profit.
But the residents of San Benito County and South Valley, who love having Bonfante Gardens as a neighbor, will play an important part in helping make the amusement park a success and keeping it as a permanent part of the community.
Bonfante Garden fans need to visit the park, and often. Buy a season pass for every member of your family, and use it. Spend some of your disposable income on food and fun at the park as often as you can. Plan a company event or a family reunion at the park’s picnic facilities. Tell your friends who live in the Bay Area, the Central Valley and along the Central Coast about Bonfante Gardens. When far-flung friends and family visit, spend a day showing them Gilroy’s horticultural treasure.
If we want to keep the repo man at bay, if we want to spare Bonfante Gardens the same fate as Indian Motorcycle, if we want our children’s children to wonder at circus trees, then we all have to do our part by supporting the park with our wallets as well as our words.
