Company that lost Rye Playland management contract files for bankruptcy

The company that was supposed to start managing the Rye Playland amusement park until Westchester County Executive George Latimer recently severed ties with it has filed for bankruptcy in White Plains, Bloomberg reported. Standard Amusements filed for Chapter 11 on Monday, claiming that it had shelled out more than $9 million in funds related to Rye Playland but hadn’t received anything in return, according to the Daily Voice Plus.

Court records show that Rye-based Standard Amusements, advised by the law firm O’Melveny & Myers, owes money to a handful of other large law firms — $178,130.04 to Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan; $55,569.05 to Akerman and $19,572.84 to DelBello Donnellan Weingarten Wise & Wiederkehr in White Plains — and $145,282.98 to Long Island City-based design firm Atelier New York Architecture. Latimer ended Westchester’s 30-year contract with the company at the end of April, saying the county “wanted to see the energy, excitement and drive in Standard Amusements’ vision for Playland — we didn’t just want a real estate deal.”

Standard Amusements’ founder Nicholas Singer, however, maintained in court papers that Westchester made false claims about his firm, and accused Latimer’s administration of “neglecting its duties to manage and invest in the Park.” In his own statement, Latimer said his team would “continue to address this matter as it will now be dealt with by the bankruptcy court,” adding that they were focused on ensuring Playland has a “vibrant and successful 2019 season.” [Bloomberg]