Volume 3, No. 5. March 14, 2003
Landing
a big one
Bob Masterson, the
CEO of Ripley Entertainment Inc., claims he still ended up paying part of the
purchase price of the Ocean Journey aquarium in Denver, Colorado, even though
his company lost out to a bid by Landry’s Restaurants Inc. “I’m
a big fan of their restaurants," Masterson said after the restaurant chain’s
CEO and president Tilman J. Fertitta outbid him in a bankruptcy court hearing
March 4. "Some of that $13.6 million they paid came out of my wallet for
as much as I’ve eaten at their restaurants.”
After Ripley announced a bid of $4.5 million for the bankrupt aquarium (THE
LOOP, February 14, 2003), Fertitta showed up at the March 4 hearing with
a $4.6 million bid. The two CEO’s then fired off competing numbers in $100,000
increments until the price tag reached $13.6 million, whereupon Masterson bowed
out (see story in Extra!
Extra!).
“I think I probably made a mistake going as high as I went,” Masterson
said. “The number we put in was not a low-ball number, it was a real number.
It’s what we thought should be paid for that facility. We know what makes
sense for us from a spending standpoint.” He questions the wisdom of Landry's
bid and its plans to spend another $15 million in improvements on the troubled
Ocean Journey; but he concedes that Landry's "is a well run company"
and would be one of the few operations capable of recouping so much investment.
However, even Fertitta is questioning his own bid. “We didn’t want
to go as high as we did,” he said. “But we think we can make it work
putting in our restaurant. In Denver there’s 2.5 million people in the
metropolitan area. We think we can make it interesting enough to capture the
tourist dollar, the convention dollar and the local dollar.”
As
it has done with its new Downtown Aquarium in Houston (THE
LOOP, February 28, 2003), Landry’s plans to install an Aquarium Restaurant
on Ocean Journey’s ground floor. “If we can make it work we’ll
try to put the Marina Matinee Cafe in, too,” Fertitta said, referring to
a new concept eatery his company introduced at the Houston aquarium featuring
booths as boats moored to docks.
In addition to the restaurants, Landry’s plans to expand the exhibits,
build a highly themed retail outlet a la the company’s Rainforest Cafe
concept, and add some amusement rides to the property, again using the Houston
aquarium as its model. A primary difference between the Houston property and
Ocean Journey is location; Houston’s lies in the theater district, Denver's
sits adjacent to Six Flags Elitch Gardens. “I think the customer that’s
coming to us isn’t necessarily the ones going to Six Flags,” Fertitta
said, adding that the aquarium’s rides would be more “family oriented”
than those next door.
One thing that emerged out of the bidding war for Denver’s aquarium is
the likelihood that this may not be the last time these two companies square
off over existing public aquarium facilities. “Because we lose one doesn’t
mean we lose them all,” Masterson said. The company already is developing
an aquarium as part of a new, multi-gated property in San Diego, California.
It has had discussions with the New Jersey State Aquarium in Camden “though
that’s a real long shot for us,” Masterson said, and it is “looking
at non-profits that are having some trouble.” He said Ripley might land
an aquarium “before the end of this season.”
Meanwhile, Fertitta is already looking beyond Denver’s venture. “Surely
we’ll look at any public aquarium that’s available,” he said.
“This thing (in Denver) was run as a nonprofit, and just being there in
the first few days we can already see a difference in operations.”
THE LOOP is written and produced by Eric Minton, Minton Enterprises, LLC. To see more examples of Eric Minton's work and Minton Enterprises services, visit www.ericminton.com.
©2003, Minton Enterprises
LLC
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