Could a $5.5 million demand for payment mean heartbreak for developers of a $2 billion theme park in northeast Oklahoma?
Make it a $2.5 billion theme park. Rising construction costs, design changes, and the tardy $5.5 million payment have cast doubt around American Heartland Theme Park and Resort and related Three Ponies RV Park and Campground, at Vinita. The project has been questioned in some quarters since it was announced last July.
The park's lead design firm, FORREC, filed a mechanic's and materialman's lien for $5.5 million against developer Mansion Entertainment Group and associated OGB Holdings, the property owner, with the Craig County clerk on May 3.
In real estate terminology, "mechanics" and "materialmen' are businesses and people who provide materials or services for real estate. The law protects them through liens, which claim a right to property if the property owner does not pay for materials or services provided.
'A new timetable' for American Heartland Theme Park and Resort
Developers have said the project would be built in phases starting with the 320-acre RV park and cabins to open in spring 2025, followed by the 1,000-acre theme park and resort to open in 2026. The site is just west of Grand Lake on Route 66, about 170 miles northeast of Oklahoma City.
Mansion Entertainment did not respond to a query from The Oklahoman. However, spokesman Kristy Adams told online news site NonDoc that the company is “working on a new timetable" for the theme park, but "we haven’t announced any delays.” It is still scheduled to open in 2026, as planned, but later in the year, she said.
“At this point the RV park is running behind schedule due to a redesign of the initial footprint,” Adams told NonDoc in a story published on May 9. She also said the developer is working through some issues surrounding flooding with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Firm files a lien against Mansion Entertainment, landowner in American Heartland Theme Park and Resort under way in Vinita, Oklahoma
NonDoc quoted a statement it received from Gene Bicknell, the theme park’s founder and chief creative officer:
“We are aware of the lien filed in Craig County and regret we were not able to come to an agreement with the party,” Bicknell said. “It is Mansion Entertainment’s policy not to pay for work until it has been submitted and a comprehensive review of the work has been performed. As of today, such a review has not been scheduled. We continue to move forward and work to rectify this situation as soon as possible.”
The lien was still on file with the Craig County clerk on Tuesday.
State and local officials support American Heartland Theme Park and Resort in northeast Oklahoma, as executive takes blame for delay
Nondoc noted that a bill to provide up to $35 million to the city of Vinita for water and sewer services for the park, House Bill 3854, has passed the state House, and the Senate with changes rejected by the House. The bill was assigned to a conference committee to work out the differences on May 9.
The developer updated the Vinita City Council at its meeting April 16.
“Some of you may have noticed that the RV park is lagging a little behind, and that’s my fault. I’m sorry,” Steve Hedrick, American Heartland executive producer of project development, told the council. “I asked the designers to compress the RV park.
"We still have 750 RV spaces and 300 cabins, but I wanted to get out of the floodplain, the FEMA floodplain, what I call the south 40. It’s probably only 20 acres, but I wanted to get out of that area, and I challenged them to compress it. Some of our RV spaces were 80 feet long, which is excessive, so I asked them to subdivide those and … surprisingly enough, the smaller you make it, the more affordable it is.”
American Heartland Theme Park and Resort could grow even bigger
Hedrick said more RV spaces could be added and that the planned resort has been expanded from 300 to 400 hotel rooms.
"That makes our money people very happy ... very ecstatic about this because the capacity we have in the theme park and the RV park and the cabins, the better experience people will have when they come to this theme park and resort,” Hedrick told the council. “And guess what? If you can give them a place to stay, they’ll stay longer.
"And they’ll spend more money, and they’ll buy gas at the gas station, and they’ll go to the grocery store, and they’ll go to the bank that’s going to be built across the street. So it’s a way of making it bigger, better, less expensive, which is what I’m supposed to do.”
American Heartland Theme Park and Resort: Fervor fades, skepticism persists surrounding $2.5 billion attraction in northeast Oklahoma
Enthusiasm for the project seems to have waned.
People still doubt the project will come off. HelloVinita.com, a local website launched last August as "an info hub for all things Vinita and American Heartland," was last updated on Dec. 18.
Skeptics online continue to express doubt and ridicule about American Heartland, which is being promoted as comparable to Disney attractions.
"This park isn’t going to happen. It just isn’t. There is no tourist base in this part of the country, and if you’re going to get on a plane anyway, you’re not going to then drive hours to a park, you’re going to go to Orlando (Florida, Walt Disney World) or Anaheim (California, Disneyland)," someone posted on Reddit.
Someone else defended the likelihood of success: "Oklahoma and it’s surrounding area are visited, Oklahoma is home to the 8th most visited casino world wide, and is home to some of the most visited Route 66 attractions. A project like this also doesn’t have to be in a popular spot to gain attraction. Vegas was built from nothing."
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Senior Business Writer Richard Mize has covered housing, construction, commercial real estate and related topics for the newspaper and Oklahoman.com since 1999. Contact him at rmize@oklahoman.com. Sign up for his weekly newsletter, Real Estate with Richard Mize. You can support Richard's work, and that of his colleagues, by purchasing a digital subscription to The Oklahoman. Right now, you can get 6 months of subscriber-only access for $1.
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