Playland Park may not open in 2025 due to contract dispute
RYE, N.Y. -- A contract dispute could keep Playland Park, Westchester County's popular amusement park, closed for the entire 2025 season.
Standard Amusements, the company that runs the 97-year-old attraction in Rye, wants to cancel the 30-year deal it signed with the county after just three years.
Problems with a contract signed 10 years ago
In 2015, former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino signed a contract with businessman Nick Singer, whose firm Standard Amusements would takeover Playland's operations from the county.
Previous legal wranglings delayed the contract's implementation until 2022.
County Legislator Catherine Parker, who represents Rye, says a complicated legal battle may now be in store.
"I think we have to go through this legal unwinding, and it's probably going to be a roller coaster just like you see at Playland," said Parker.
An uncertain future
Standard Amusements now wants to terminate the deal, claiming, "Westchester County has ... failed to live up to its end of the bargain" by allegedly not completing a $150 million rebuild of the historic park.
Westchester denied the claims and accused Standard Amusements of "repeatedly neglecting and mismanaging the park," with poor maintenance and understaffing that shut down many rides in 2024.
Standard Amusements also shut down the Playland pool for the summer on August 1 last year after a child drowned.
Meanwhile, the firm is demanding more than $50 million in damages and repayment from Westchester, but the county says any damages owed are substantially less.
"Standard Amusements has said that they will not run the park this summer. So, I think it would be a tremendous loss for Westchester County residents if we don't have our beautiful Playland open to the public," Parker said.
Lawyers will wrangle over legal issues for the next few weeks as the county tries to figure out if it's possible to operate the park this summer.