Clementon Park Goes For $2.3M At Auction; Will Reopen, Buyer Says

CLEMENTON, NJ — Clementon Park will live again. An Indiana group has purchased the popular South Jersey water park for $2.3 million, and plans to reopen it later this year, the holding group conducting an auction for the park announced.

Clementon Park Holdings LLC, a division of Indiana Beach Amusement and Water Park purchased Clementon Park and Splash World at an auction, and plans to reopen it later this year, the auction’s organizers announced.

Capital Recovery Group was hired to conduct the auction of the park, which closed in 2019 and has yet to reopen. The auction included the real estate, rides, and the liquor license associated with the park.

"We're pleased with this outcome and happy to have played a role in giving this park new life," Capital Recovery Group President Bill Firestone said.

“Our focus will be to assess immediate needs, and in a very abbreviated timeframe, do our best to have the Splash World portion of the park open by Memorial Day weekend, if not a refreshed park as a whole,” Indiana Beach Amusement and Water Park Owner Gene Staples said.

The auction was held on Wednesday, and began with Clementon Park Holdings’ $2,370,000 bid for the entire property, according to the group. That bid was held until each individual piece of the property could be put up for auction.

When the bids for each piece added up to less than what Clementon Park Holdings was offering, the $2.3 million bid was accepted, according to Capital Recovery. With a 10 percent buyers’ premium, the total cost of the bid came out to $2,607,000.

Clementon Park was founded as one of the nation’s first “trolley parks” in 1907. It was built at the end of a trolley line to encourage ridership during the weekends and to provide amusements for residents of nearby Philadelphia.

Theodore Gibbs and his two sons founded the park, and it remained in the family until it was sold in 2011 to Premier Parks, who then renamed it Clementon Park and Splash World in recognition of the addition of the water park.

“I love Americana and vintage amusement parks,” Staples said. “We were successful in reviving Indiana Beach in 2020. This amazing opportunity for Clementon was brought to our attention in late February, and we were lucky enough to acquire it at auction. Our goal now is to use what we learned at Indiana Beach and bring that knowledge to relaunching Clementon Park.”

Members of the Clementon Park Memories Facebook group were excited to hear the news.

“That’s awesome news,” one member wrote. “I heard a rumor that if anything Splash World will open this year & both parks next year assuming this is true.”

Others wrote, “I am so happy. Glad it will re-open,” and “Great News!!”