Adventure Landing opened its Jacksonville Beach water park at 1944 Beach Blvd. on March 14 and might be open for the entire summer season, said owner Hank Woodburn.
The 27-year-old amusement park expected to close for construction of a 427-unit apartment complex, but development progress has been delayed.
Woodburn said March 15 he expects to learn in the coming days about the length of the next lease extension. He hopes it is through the water park season at the end of September. Season passes have yet to go on sale.
“We have done everything to ready the water park. It’s painted, buffed and shiny. All we need is good weather,” he said.
Adventure Landing was set to close Oct. 31, 2021, but landowner JB Fair Park MF LLC extended the lease through Dec. 31 and then again through March.
The park is on 22 acres next to 31.8 acres that would comprise the 53.8-acre proposed apartment development.
However, 6 acres of the Adventure Landing property are in a conservation easement. In total, 38.9 acres of the total property includes two ponds and conservation easements.
At a mid-December meeting of the Jacksonville Beach Planning Commission, counsel for the landowner asked for an indefinite extension to answer wetland and flooding questions in order to receive necessary permitting to begin construction.
After that meeting the lease was extended through the end of March.
Despite the news of the impending closure, customers are patronizing the park.
“We are getting a lot of questions. People are used to coming here. We are grateful,” Woodburn said.
The search for a new location continues. Woodburn is looking at five sites – one in Clay County, two in St. Johns County and two in Duval County. One in Duval may be near the current location, he said.
“We haven’t pulled the trigger because we don’t know what exactly is going to happen here,” he said.
Adventure Landing employs 150 people and Woodburn wants to hire another 100 in the next couple of months.
Annually, Adventure Landing is one of the largest employers of youth workers in Duval County, he said.