South Jersey’s Clementon Park and Splash World shuts down and is listed for sale again

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The Clementon Park and Splash World amusement park in South Jersey has closed and been put up for sale again, following a previous foreclosure and ownership transfer in 2019.

“After five memorable years, we are saddened to announce that we have made the difficult decision to close the park and plan to offer the park for sale,” management said in a message posted to social media.

Chicago-based IB Parks & Entertainment, owned by real estate developer Gene Staples, reopened the park in 2021 after purchasing it at auction for $2.3 million.

“It has been a privilege to care for a place that has meant so much to generations of families. We are hopeful that we will find a buyer who shares our love for Clementon Park and will carry its history and legacy forward,” the managers wrote.

The announcement prompted a stream of nostalgic comments on social media from South Jersey residents who recalled riding the roller coasters and water slides during school trips or family visits every summer.

Previously one of the world’s oldest operating amusement parks, it was founded in 1907 as a trolley park, providing entertainment at the end of a trolley line from Camden. It changed hands several times over the decades and closed in 2019. The owner at the time, Oklahoma-based Premier Parks, was reportedly sued after it stopped making payments on a $4.5 million loan.

After purchasing the park, Staples initially worked to clean up the rides and upgrade its infrastructure, and vowed to bring in festivals and other events to attract more visitors.

But locals and amusement park enthusiasts said many of the park’s “dry” rides, including the popular Hellcat wooden roller coaster, have been out of commission for years, and said it appeared that IB Parks & Entertainment had not continued to invest in the facility.

Clementon Park competed for visitors with a number of other relatively close amusement options, including IB Parks’ own Sahara Sam’s Water Park in Berlin Township and Six Flags Great Adventure in Ocean County, as well as Dorney Park and Hershey Park in Pennsylvania.

IB Parks also owns its flagship Indiana Beach park in Indiana and Niagara Amusement Park in New York, which shuttered after the 2025 summer season. The company said earlier this year that low attendance and revenue levels at the Niagara park could not sustain operating and upgrade costs.

Staples was separately hit with a lawsuit in May over a $28 million loan on an office tower he owns near Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport in June, the Real Deal reported. He began missing loan payments in February and failed to pay $2.7 million in property taxes, according to the lawsuit.