Do I hear $35 million?
That's the minimum price for Hard Rock Park when it goes up for auction on December 15th, per court documents, which were filed this week. It's do or die time for South Carolina's $400 million investment, which will be sold in part or while. Bid's are being accepted until December 12th.
According to the court, qualified bidders must meet the minimum $35 million price tag, put 10% down in cash and show they have the experience to run the business. There have been a several companies touring the park in the past couple of months and there are a few interested buyers. Discover Myrtle Beach previously reported on these buyers, but did not release names.
One buyer appears to be interested in reopening the park, while another may wish to relocate the assests.
Upon a potential sale, creditors will begin lining up to collect, starting with Deutsche Bank, which is owed around $18.6 million. Deutsche Bank pushed for the park's sale in court. Following the bank, lenders who gave the park $2 million to operate during the bankruptcy. Unfortunately, for stockholders and creditors, legal fees and adminstrative costs will come next, while will likely leave nothing left.
It is still unclear if Hard Rock International will allow the use of the "Hard Rock" name, if the park were to reopen. HRP Operations Myrtle Beach, the company which owned the park, had paid a minimum of $2.5 million a year to license the name.
The $400 million park had roughly 2,000 employees. Cut began over the summer and quickly dropped to a few hundred in the weeks leading up to chapter 11 bankrupcy filing. Some 75 employees remained, which dropped to about half in the last week of operations, the first week of November. The same week most employees were let go, leaving a skeleton staff of at least half a dozen, plus security.
