Six Flags To Close Maryland Theme Park, Offer 500 Acres For Redevelopment
The ride is nearly over for the Six Flags America and Hurricane Harbor amusement park in Prince George's County, Maryland.
The park is planning to close after this year's operating season on Nov. 2, Six Flags Entertainment Corp. announced Thursday.
Six Flags CEO Richard Zimmerman said it determined the park is “not a strategic fit” in its long-term growth plan. The company said it retained CBRE to market the 500-acre property for sale as a redevelopment play.
“After reviewing a number of options, we believe that marketing the property for redevelopment will generate the highest value and return on investment,” Zimmerman said in a statement. “We anticipate strong interest in the property and will continue to strategically pursue portfolio optimization opportunities as we work to unlock the full value of our portfolio.”
The park sits just off MD-193 in Bowie, about 14 miles east of D.C. It opened as a Six Flags park in 1999, but the property had previously operated as a wildlife preserve since 1974, The Washington Post reported.
The park has 70 full-time employees who will be laid off when it closes, with severance and benefits, Six Flags said. Zimmerman called it a “difficult decision” and said the company will work to support its employees.
The Charlotte-based company said in November it would consider selling some parks after its $8B merger with Cedar Fair Entertainment. Six Flags operates 27 amusement parks, 15 water parks and nine resort properties across North America.
Prince George's acting County Executive Tara Jackson and the Prince George's County Economic Development Corp. didn't respond to requests for comment.
The closure is the latest in a series of blows to the economy of one of America's richest majority-Black counties.
Earlier this week, the NFL's Washington Commanders announced the team plans to leave the county's Northwest Stadium, which is located about 7 miles west of Six Flags, in 2030 to play in a new stadium at D.C.'s RFK Stadium site. Jackson said the county will work on a “bold vision” to redevelop the Northwest Stadium site.
In March, President Donald Trump said he would halt the planned move of the FBI headquarters to Greenbelt.
The county also lost a major private employer in tech company 2U, which had occupied more than 300K SF in New Carrollton before going into bankruptcy and then moving to a smaller space in Northern Virginia. And it has more than 30,000 federal jobs and additional contracting jobs that could be at risk from Trump's cuts to federal agencies.
