WHITE PLAINS – Westchester County notified Standard Amusements that it was cancelling its deal with the company to manage its Playland amusement park in Rye.
The previous county administration signed the original deal with the company. The county has been in extended negotiations since then.
“We are unhappy with the way this has all turned out; we never wanted this kind of conflict,” said County Executive George Latimer. “We wanted to see the energy, excitement and drive in Standard Amusements’ vision for Playland – we didn’t want just a real estate deal.”
Latimer said Standard Amusements has improperly claimed millions of dollars as part of its contractually defined manager’s investment obligation, which is supposed to represent capital investments at Playland.
He said at the time of the county’s letter to Standard Amusement on December 7, 2018 laying out defaults under the contract, the company had claimed it invested over $5.7 million in the park, but he said an audit proven otherwise. Instead, the money was spent on salaries, meals, travel, advertisements, marketing, consulting fees, and legal fees including fees to raise investment capital it claimed to have at the time it negotiated the agreement with the county. Latimer also said the county is entitled to an annual audit of the company’s books and records under the agreement, but Standard Amusements has prevented the county from completing the audit and has refused to provide necessary documentation.
