$37 Million Luna Park Sydney Revamp

[Jamberoo Fan]

Long article with most content non-theme park related so relevant portions, which most again is not directly theme park-related but shopping centre-related, below.

From The Sydney Morning Herald:

Quote

Luna Park owners raise cash for revamp

By Carolyn Cummins

February 22, 2025 — 12.15am

Bill Gravanis, the new owner of the harbourside Luna Park through his family-operated hospitality operation Oscars Group, has raised $37.4 million to help fund the revamp of the theme park through the sale of The Village on Summer Street mall in Orange.

The co-seller of the shopping centre was architect Paul Saunders, who bought the Central Tablelands-based centre with Oscars for about $22 million in April 2019.

NSW hospitality group Oscars acquired Luna Park to turn it into a “top-five tourist destination”. Credit:Dean Sewell

Centennial and its retail joint venture partner Parkstone Funds Management bought the large-scale 21,090-square metre landholding, which includes the 4947 sq m mall and 2573 sq m of developable land.

Centennial executive director Paul Ford said the centre offered strong defensive income based on its largely non-discretionary retail mix, positive growth indicators for the region and limited new supply of retail assets in the area.

“We are well on our way to scaling our retail exposure towards in excess of $1 billion and during an attractive point in the retail sector cycle,” Ford said.

The Village on Summer Street mall in Orange.

The deal was brokered by Steven Lerche of Savills and Nick Willis, Sam Hatcher and Sebastian Fahey of JLL.

Carolyn Cummins can be contacted at carolynannecummins@gmail.com.

Carolyn Cummins is Commercial Property Editor for The Sydney Morning Herald. Connect via Twitter or email.

 

Edited Friday at 02:17 PM by Jamberoo Fan

[Baconjack]

If I was to guess it's probably an asset sale that needed to be done to fund the cost of the lease and doesn't indicate any plans for park investment. Wasn't the lease quoted at $70m originally? Oscars appear to be asset rich at a glance but who knows if they had the cash to afford the lease.

"Revamping" the park is pointless when everything is basically new. The overwhelming majority of the rides are just over 3 years old. On top of that Wild Mouse has been completely rebuilt, the venues have been upgraded very recently and a large chunk of the food & beverage outlets have been somewhat recently renovated. Multiplex did up the place top to bottom before they sold.

What could you exactly do with the park? Renovate Coney Island again (it's already in great condition as it stands)? Change the food and beverage outlets again? Luna Park investment wise is an ultra long game - Multiplex spent 15 years milking the existing park to its last dollar before getting new equipment in ready for a sale. It's also a cash cow - Big Top is a money printing license - probably why companies are interested in Luna Park as an asset to begin with.

(for the record i'd love the second generation hot racer trains on big dipper which has fixed the roughness issues with the model, but i doubt it'll happen)

Edited Friday at 02:39 PM by Baconjack

[Spotty]

The only place that they could really expand (and I'm not sure if they actually can for structural reasons) would be ontop of the carpark. But even then you could maybe fit 1 or 2 flat rides at the most. The only thing I can think of is maybe a repaint of the front half of the park and just giving a general refresh. Not really much could be done given the space they have. But any investment is good investment.

[aaronm]

My visits to Grona Lund tell me there is plenty of opportunity to add more coasters if they try.

[Dean Barnett]

If we’re going by Gronalund they could fit a B&M invert on that bad boy 

[red dragin]

Ignoring the neighbours and their complaints 

[Baconjack]

2 hours ago, aaronm said:

My visits to Grona Lund tell me there is plenty of opportunity to add more coasters if they try.

Grona Lund is also quite a bit bigger than Luna Park, isn't built on a skinny plot of land and doesn't have big rides and large buildings that are heritage listed (ie: about a quarter of the land)

Good luck cramming shit on top of each other (or build things underground) at Luna Park. You'd pretty much have no luck.

Edited yesterday at 12:33 PM by Baconjack

[downunder]

Maybe they'll focus on the hospitality side and building that up. They could maybe jam a small Eurofighter in there or a Maurer SC 2000 (fun, cheap little coaster). They'd love to get that land behind Maloney's corner.

Gronalund has a thriving restaurant/hospitality scene as well, which would serve as a good model. Great spot to be out at night.

Edited 5 hours ago by downunder