Westchester County plans to operate Playland this summer now that Standard Amusements is backing out of its management contract and seeking more than $50 million in damages, county officials said.
Before Standard took over management of the park three years, ago, the county had run Playland for 94 years, “so we do know how it goes,” Democratic County Legislator Catherine Parker of Rye told The Record. Standard, a private operator, was selected in 2015 to run the park, which is owned by the county.
Playland, which first opened in 1928, is scheduled to reopen for the season on May 17.
Parker said Westchester will likely open up jobs as it takes over park management.
“We want to be able to hire people both from Rye and other areas of Westchester County,” she said.
The long-term management plan for Playland, however, remains unclear.
Standard Amusements and the county have had a tumultuous relationship since the start of their ill-fated partnership.
The management company was handpicked in 2015 by Rob Astorino, the former Republican county executive, to privatize the park. The contract was then renegotiated in 2022 during the administration of Democrat George Latimer, who resigned this month after being elected to Congress. Ken Jenkins, his deputy, took over as county executive.
The private operator brought on to manage the historic amusement park notified Westchester officials in a Jan. 21 letter of its intent to terminate its 30-year contract to operate the facility. Standard wrote that it will pull out of the deal on Feb. 20.
“As we have made the County Executive and his team aware over the last two months, if Playland is to open during the 2025 season it will be operated by the County,” Nicholas Singer, Standard’s co-founder, wrote in the letter. Standard Amusements “is committed to continuing to cooperate with the county to unwind the [contract] and the parties’ relationship in an orderly and responsible way.”
Principal on Standard’s list of grievances is the county’s failure to pay for what Standard has said are much-needed capital improvement projects at Playland.
In a statement, Standard said Westchester failed to meet renovation deadlines “over and over again.”
Asked which capital improvements Standard was referring to, Standard declined comment and referred The Record to its prepared statement.
“Our contract … was carefully structured with contractual deadlines for construction to ensure our extensive renovation plan stayed on track,” Standard said in that statement. “And, in the event the County failed to meet those deadlines, the contract contained a detailed formula outlining precisely what the County would owe Standard Amusements in these exact circumstances.”
In Singer’s letter to the county, he wrote that Standard would be seeking $57 million in damages from the county for Westchester’s alleged failure to meet construction deadlines by April 30, 2024.
Catherine Cioffi, the county communications director, accused Standard of mismanaging Playland.
“It is Standard Amusements — not the county — that is in default of the Playland Management Agreement,” Cioffi said in a prepared statement. “Their claim of working to revitalize the Park is an outright falsehood.”
She said Standard had failed repeatedly, with rides being closed and insufficient maintenance staff. She added that Standard had withheld money from the county.
County taxpayers are the real collateral damage, she said.
“This situation was created by the Astorino administration that saddled the county with an agreement that benefits Standard Amusements to the detriment of county taxpayers,” Cioffi said. “The county stands firm in its commitment to holding Standard Amusements accountable for their mismanagement.”
