DenDen Posted November 20, 2012 Share Posted November 20, 2012 (edited) http://www.sun-sentinel.com/fl-hurricane-redevelopment-20121113,0,2614615.story The highly visible Dania Beach Hurricane, one of the United States' 112 wooden roller coasters, will be sold for scrap to help fund a local charity, a spokeswoman for the owner said. The owner, Jerald Holland, wants to choose the right charity to give the coaster to as a donation. Since announcing the ride's fate last month, he's gotten emails and calls from about 15 charities interested in benefiting from the demolition and sale of the coaster, said Allyson Goodwin, an attorney and spokeswoman for Holland. "He's not just going to pick any charity, though," Goodwin said. "It's got to be a good one. It's got to be one Jerry would want his name associated with, with a good cause and a good background." Charities that have shown interest in funding their operations by selling the wood and steel from the roller coaster situated along Interstate 95 near Griffin Road include the Office Depot Foundation and Rebuilding Together Broward County Inc. A few local private and parochial schools and churches also have thrown in their hats, Goodwin said. Holland hopes to make a decision and get the paperwork signed by Dec. 31, Goodwin said. Interested charities may still email her at agoodwin@lawspgh.com. The tallest wooden roller coaster in Florida closed in April 2011, with Holland's company, Dania Woody LLC, in bankruptcy. The roller coaster, which opened for business in 2000, was built with more than a million board feet of lumber and 8 million pounds of concrete. It closed after more than 10 years of operation. Five couples were married on the coaster, and it was featured over the years in several television commercials. The attraction closed after 18 months of financial losses staunched by checks Holland wrote to Dania Woody LLC, Goodwin said. The 3,200-foot long, 100-foot tall coaster's financial trouble seems to be a result of years of recession, when people weren't spending on entertainment as much, Goodwin said. The Hurricane will be replaced by a big box retailer, a strip mall or an indoor arena. Holland and Boomers of Greater Fort Lauderdale, the laser-tag and go-kart theme park next door, will combine the Hurricane's land and some unused Boomers parcels to make a 18-acre piece of land that will be marketable to retail developers, Goodwin said. "It's going to be upper-scale retail, something nice," Goodwin said. The switch is in keeping with central Dania Beach's redevelopment from an industrial district broken up only by Boomers and the roller coaster to a commercial area specializing in interior design galleries, said Jonathan Kingsley, senior vice president of Jones Lang LaSalle real estate firm in Miami. "The area has been more industrial than retail over the years, because the area just wasn't right for retail yet," he said. "There wasn't demand for that. The amusement-park style use was a good place to park the land until there was. And now because of population growth, the market has cycled now and there's demand in that area for retail." The city of Dania Beach is pushing for that switch. It changed the zoning of the area from industrial to commercial earlier this year, said Jeremy Earle, executive director for the Dania Beach Community Redevelopment Agency. Two new hotels have been built there in the past two years. "There's already a push for uses that might go well with tourists staying in those hotels," he said. The roller coaster, Kingsley said, was nice while it lasted. But land along a major interstate in a place as densely populated as South Florida is likely to end up commercial. "A higher and better use was always going to come along for that land," Kingsley said. Edited November 21, 2012 by jedimaster1227 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted November 20, 2012 Share Posted November 20, 2012 Why aren't more people freaking out about this? Seriously, this is probably the best roller coaster to be torn down in a long time, but no one is trying to "save" it, or making web pages to help take it apart and put it in a pick up truck or anything? Why not? I mean, the reality of the situation is this - I really liked this ride... A LOT... and I'm actually bummed to hear this news. But I also understand the real word situation behind this ride. They owners couldn't make it successful. It was probably a bad location, and a bad idea to build it in the first place. It's about as expensive to re-locate a woodie as it is to build a new one, etc. I just don't get why all these people are freaking out over crappy woodies, like Big Dipper, Starliner, or even the Jersey Shore coasters, but no one seems to be giving any attention to a coaster that was ACTUALLY GOOD! Oh, well...the Dania Beach Hurricane still lives on as a video memory... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted November 20, 2012 Share Posted November 20, 2012 ^Agreed. The ride was in my top 15. Such a bummer it is going to be donated for scrap (side note: if they use that 10 million dollar valuation...talk about a tax scam). Also, this made me laugh: "It's going to be upper-scale retail, something nice," Upper-scale retail next to a family fun center. Classy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeemerBoy Posted November 20, 2012 Share Posted November 20, 2012 Why aren't more people freaking out about this? Seriously, this is probably the best roller coaster to be torn down in a long time, but no one is trying to "save" it, or making web pages to help take it apart and put it in a pick up truck or anything? Why not? They're waiting patiently to save Uncle Bernie's, should that ever suffer the same fate? EDIT: They probably don't even know about this. You'll have to give 'em a month or two before the newsletter comes out. Seriously, anyone who's ever visited Orlando solely for parks/coasters and never took the time to make the side trip for this....go ahead and kick yourself now. You missed a hidden gem. Sad to see the 'ole girl go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coaster Cow Posted November 20, 2012 Share Posted November 20, 2012 I mean, the reality of the situation is this - I really liked this ride... A LOT... Not questioning your opinion, but what made the Hurricane so good? I can't get a good read from the pictures and video available and was just curious about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted November 20, 2012 Share Posted November 20, 2012 ^It had a good pace, decent pops of air, some some lateral forces just for good measure! Definitely a hidden gem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
australianalex Posted November 20, 2012 Share Posted November 20, 2012 Even though I've never been on it, it looked like a really nice woodie and it's a shame to see it go. SAVE TEH HURRICANE. Had to say it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylor Finn Posted November 20, 2012 Share Posted November 20, 2012 Any time an old coaster goes down, I get upset. Especially wooden, as there really aren't a plethora of good old woodies left. I have never been down there, but this ride actually does look like fun. A unique layout, and definitely a good pace. I doubt this'll be saved. It seems like the sort of decision that has been well-thought out. There isn't much to be done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted November 20, 2012 Share Posted November 20, 2012 I have no stake in this, as I've never ridden the Hurricane (never spent any time in Miami). But I'd never even heard of the ride before I joined TPR. Maybe that was part of the problem: poor location and lack of exposure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeemerBoy Posted November 20, 2012 Share Posted November 20, 2012 ^It had a good pace, decent pops of air, some some lateral forces just for good measure! Definitely a hidden gem. That pretty much sums it up. It was just an overall solid, fun ride. I'd be curious to find out if any of the designers/engineers who worked on it, and/or it's "sister" coaster in TN, moved on to positions with competitors over the years? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meteornotes Posted November 20, 2012 Share Posted November 20, 2012 I'm sure if this were a crappy steel coaster or a wacky worm, the ACE preservation fund would be withdrawn from an ATM right now in order to save it. This was a great coaster that sadly not a lot of people got out to ride. Glad I got to visit the place once. dt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goatdan Posted November 20, 2012 Share Posted November 20, 2012 I just don't get why all these people are freaking out over crappy woodies, like Big Dipper, Starliner, or even the Jersey Shore coasters, but no one seems to be giving any attention to a coaster that was ACTUALLY GOOD! I think it is because sadly, while this thing looked awesome it's hard to escape the fact that it rarely had anyone on it. Add to that the weird ownership stuff - since it wasn't actually *part* of Boomers, they had no reason to try to upsell it and get more people on it, and I'm just guessing people don't really know about it. It seems like everyone rode the Big Dipper or at least went to that park, and the Jersey Shore ones were on the news so everyone knows about them, but unless you know about the ride which it seems that most people don't, no one has heard of this one. It was a different era though when someone could get funding to build an awesome, giant roller coaster next to a (from what I have seen) sort of decent FEC. Who would give you money for this today? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasternut Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 This is a sad day for us South Floridians! I loved the Hurricane... I was hoping that it would be moved to Miami for a second life. It was a great Woodie with lots of airtime and a very comfortable ride. I see it every week when I fly out from Ft. Lauderdale airport each Monday morning for work. I'm on vacation in Phoenix right now, but I'm severely depressed! Goodbye - DBH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King_K. Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 Incredibly sad to hear. I was hoping that proposal to move the coaster over to Zoo Miami would've gotten approved, but I guess the expense was too much. So many good memories with friends on this. I will admit it was never really busy, as you can see in the following photos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DenDen Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 Also, this made me laugh: "It's going to be upper-scale retail, something nice," Upper-scale retail next to a family fun center. Classy. Not to mention, we're talking about Dania Beach. The city with no redeeming value whatsoever, where people live because they can't afford Fort Lauderdale or Miami. Calling it "upper-scale" instead of "upscale" is such a red flag, are we talking Target vs. Wal Mart? hehehe Sad to see this ride go. If I hear demolition starts, I'll try to get down there to take pix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moose Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 ^ The redeeming value was the hurricane! I really like this ride and that had always been the case, not just since it's been SBNO. It's sad, yet understandable, that the owners couldn't make it profitable and save it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skycoastin Steve Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 The DBH had some ridiculous airtime in the front row, it was definitely a huge surprise the one time I went there and rode it. But as others have said, noooooooooooobody was there the day we went. I think the most people we ever had on a train with us was like 3 or 4. I can't imagine what that ride would have been like with full trains. I'll pour one in honor of our fallen woodie comrade. This one, not SOB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Rosenzweig Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 The reality of the situation is the rides in Jersey were involuntarily closed (as in destroyed) and didn't represent a poor business decision like DBH. DBH was a great ride (easily FL's best woodie), but really lost money since it's debut as a stand alone ride. Had Boomers purchased the ride and made it part of their attraction roster/included in POP plan, there could have been hope. Love it or love to not love it, Casino Pier's Star Jet probably paid for itself ten times over the course of it's decade or so of service. It was custom designed to (not quite) mimic the Schwarzkopf Jet Star I it replaced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Johnson Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 I guess it is pretty sad that as a native Floridian, I have yet to visit Miami. I kept hoping that I would make it down there to ride this one, but I am now too late. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carolinacaniac Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 This is definitely a loss. In a way, it was almost like a cult coaster, provided a great ride but not too many people knew about it. I too felt that the "stand-alone" aspect of it was a bit odd, but at least I had a chance to ride it. It shall be missed. -Gary T. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shockwave Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 Real shame that this one has to go, it was a really good ride when I went on it a few years back. This is now the 8th coaster with the name Hurricane that has been removed from a park. There's also a Vekoma Hurricane model which used to be at Six Flags New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina came along. And if you add that up with all the various rides called Tornado and Cyclone, the moral here is: if you're going to name a ride after a natural disaster, avoid these three names, because it will probably end up in a scrapheap somewhere or used as firewood. Avalanche, Earthquake, Volcano, Tsunami, Blizzard and Wildfire are better choices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
historyfreak92 Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 Ohh well, things is gonna get worse! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odene497 Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 Dang, I always thought this ride looked so cool, and missed it by not too long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afinegan Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 My railroad club is trying to save the caboose that was next to it right now, we need to get the city parks permission to move it in. I really wished someone would save this coaster. People down here in SE Florida really bum me out sometimes (they just dont seem to care as a majority - hard to find anyone to do anything) - This was our only coaster in this neck of the woods. Well - we will hopefully save a part of it (even though its just part of the scenery). afinegan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gilly Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 Well angry at myself that I didn't visit while we were in Floride. We've practically drove by... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now