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Cypress Gardens Sold For $17 Million

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Sep 26, 2007 9:30 am US/Eastern

Cypress Gardens Sold For $17 Million

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WINTER HAVEN (CBS4) ― The Southern Belles will be packing up their petticoats and looking for a new gardens to grace after Florida's oldest theme park was sold as part of a pending Chapter Eleven bankruptcy case.

Cypress Gardens Adventure Park in Winter Haven went for nearly $17 million at a private auction. Its sister park in Valdosta, Georgia - Wild Adventure Theme Park – was sold for $35.5 million to a company in Missouri. The Middle District Court in Georgia is expected to approve the sale tomorrow.

The Georgia company that owned both parks filed for bankruptcy protection last year, citing $25 million in debts incurred after Cypress Gardens was hit by three hurricanes in 2004 and it was unable to reach a settlement with its insurance company.

Cypress Gardens opened in 1936. It closed in 2003, unable to compete with more sophisticated attractions at Walt Disney World, Universal Studios and Busch Gardens.

(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

© MMIX, CBS Television Stations Inc. All Rights Reserved.