Rocklin pours more money into Quarry Park Adventures, as it struggles to make a profit

Quarry Park Adventures, a multimillion-dollar zip-line and rock-climbing amusement park in Rocklin, lost nearly $300,000 in profit in its first nine months of operation under new management last year.

Profit fell significantly short of expectations set when the park reopened in April under Adventure Operations LLC, a subsidiary of a Colorado-based adventure park company. To help the beleaguered park get back on its feet, the city approved this week allocating more money towards the amusement attraction, as officials continue to bet Quarry Park Adventures will be a boon for Rocklin’s emerging downtown.

Between April and December last year, about 36,600 people visited the park, bringing in about $1.1 million last year in revenue. But for eight consecutive months, expenses outpaced gross profits. Park officials attributed that to the “unrealized revenue” from the 7,350 attendees who came with old tickets and season passes purchased in 2018 through the previous operator that were honored by the new operators.

“It’s fairly dismal as you can see,” the park’s general manager Dylan Burt told Rocklin City Council last month. “Suffice to say that for now, those previous pass holders had a large effect on our ability to make money.”

Last year, Burt told Rocklin City Council he expected about 41,000 people would attend the park in its first year of operation, saying, “I think that in this market that’s fairly easily attainable.”

But the park has faced additional “operational” challenges, like finding and keeping high-level staffers, accommodating fluctuating walk-in attendance, and adjusting to weather that can dramatically affect attendance like high heat or heavy rain.

“The City is confident Adventure Operations is on the right path,” Rocklin spokesman Michael Young said in a statement. “City staff believes that with the experience gained over the past 10 months, continued growth in visitors through group and online sales, and without the financial burden created by the former operator, the park can be successful.”

Rocklin City Council this week approved spending an additional $166,000 towards the park — $126,000 for its operational budget, and $40,000 towards an account used for shortfall months.

That’s on top of the $200,000 shortfall account the city initially created last year, which Quarry Park Adventures has already burned through. The city also then allocated $300,000 towards startup costs. Under its overall $1.3 million four-year contract with the city, Adventure Operations must pay back the city shortfall account when the park starts making a net revenue.

“My concern is essentially, when the final payment is made,” said Rocklin City Councilman Joe Patterson during Tuesday’s meeting, “there will be more money given to adventure operations than the actual loss from the business.”

Rocklin has invested heavily into the amusement park and nearby facilities: More than $3.25 million on ride elements like zip-lines and elevated rope courses, and nearly $10 million on surrounding parking lots, infrastructure and physical structures.

It’s been a tumultuous journey for Quarry Park Adventures since it initial grand opening in the granite basin of a former mining quarry just below City Hall.

Quarry Park Adventures had initially opened in October 2018 after months of delays and blown budgets. But by January, the city quietly shut down the park, cut ties with the then-operator, El Dorado-based Legacy Family Entertainment, and sued the company for fraud and breach of contract.

Rocklin alleged in its lawsuit that within a few weeks of operating the park, Legacy told the city it wouldn’t be able to meet promised revenue and attendance numbers. The lawsuit also alleged Legacy’s president David Busch repeatedly misrepresented his amusement park experience.

Busch told The Sacramento Bee last year that the allegations were “fabrication.” He alleged it was in fact the city who broke their contract, because certain elements such as a cafe, permanent bathrooms and a boulder climb area were not installed by opening day. “It’s like asking us to play five-card poker and we’re only given three cards,” Busch said.

The litigation for the case is ongoing, Young said.

This story was originally published February 14, 2020 at 12:16 PM.