DENVER — Kroenke Sports and Entertainment (KSE) and Revesco Properties have received a $124.6 million loan to refinance Elitch Gardens Theme and Water Park in downtown Denver. The 130-year-old property is Colorado’s only combination amusement park and water park.
The park is set to open for its 2020 season in April, but no word has come out if the outbreak of COVID-19 has changed that plan.
Eric Tupler and Tyler Dumon of JLL arranged the five-year, floating-rate loan through Pacific Western Bank.
KSE and Revesco, both based in Denver, plan to use the loan to retire existing debt and fund predevelopment work for the future River Mile project. Expected to take 25 years to fully come to fruition, River Mile is Revesco’s planned mixed-use district that will span 62 acres along a one-mile stretch of the South Platte River. KSE is a partner on the project.
River Mile will eventually replace the amusement park, according to local media outlets. The redevelopment is expected to span 14 million square feet of residential and commercial mixed-use space, as well as public space along the riverfront.
The River Mile project will include Meow Wolf, a 90,000-square-foot art installation attraction that is expected to come on line in 2021. Meow Wolf will be on a neighboring site west of Elitch Gardens.
KSE and Revesco acquired Elitch Gardens in 2015. Since then the partnership has completed improvements to the park, including three new attractions. In addition to roller coasters, arcades and water park attractions, Elitch Gardens includes dining, shopping and concerts.
KSE is the ownership group of the Denver Nuggets NBA team and the Colorado Avalanche NHL team, which both play in the Pepsi Center in downtown Denver. In a move that many sports owners and players are undertaking across the country, KSE has pledged to continue to pay its part-time and hourly employees at the Pepsi Center for the next 30 days as operations have ceased due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Revesco Properties is an ownership and development firm founded by three real estate veterans Rhys Duggan, Scott Lee and Christopher Wood. Revesco Properties focuses on investments in the southern half of the United States and Canada.
— John Nelson