GRAND ISLAND (WBEN) - Grand Island Supervisor John Whitney said he received a notice Tuesday that STORE Capital, which owns the Fantasy Island property, has reached a tentative long-term lease agreement to hopefully bring the park back to life.
According to Whitney, the deal was reached with a man named Gene Staples, who is the owner and operator of Indiana Beach Amusement Park.
"Indiana Beach was also an Apex property as Fantasy Island was," Whitney began. "Apex went bankrupt, and he resurrected Indiana Beach Park, and he's hoping to do the same thing here with Fantasy Island."
Fantasy Island closed abruptly in February of 2020.
Whitney said he and State Assemblyman Angelo Morinello are going to meet with Staples Friday to discuss the project further, as Staples apparently is looking obtain incentives or tax abatement.
"It's a big, big part of the fabric of Grand Island - it's been here for 50 years, and it's a very important part of our culture," said Whitney. "There's a huge symbiotic relationship that goes on not just in Grand Island and businesses in Grand Island, but the whole region.
"People come here to camp at the KOA, which is immediately north of Fantasy Island," he continued. "They're going to visit Fantasy Island; they're going to visit the restaurants; they're going to purchase gas; they're going to visit the stores and the shops; they may go to the Falls; they may go to the outlet mall; they may go downtown to Canalside. There's a lot of different things, and Grand Island's located not too far from any of them."
Whitney emphasized that the deal remains tentative at this point, so he couldn't provide any sort of timeline on when the public could or should expect the park to reopen.
"While (Staples) made a tentative arrangement, it still hasn't been formalized yet," said Whitney. "Right now, we're just very hopeful that it goes through, and we're keeping our fingers crossed and try to do everything we can to assist with that process."
