The San Diego City Attorney's office says the deadline has passed for SeaWorld to pay $12.2 million in back rent to the city.
Three months ago, the city of San Diego gave SeaWorld until Sep. 6 to pay rent that they say they were owed during the pandemic.
SeaWorld has previously claimed that they did not have to make those payments at the beginning of the pandemic because of the mandated theme park closures, but city officials say those payments were deferred, not waived, and now it's time for SeaWorld to pay up.
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On Wednesday, SeaWorld sent the same statement to NBC 7 they sent when we first covered the story three months ago:
"While as a matter of policy we don’t comment on potential litigation, we have enjoyed a long relationship with the City and remain hopeful that we can resolve this matter. We have partnered with the City for nearly 60 years – conducting thousands of animal rescues, numerous recycling drives and many other events. We also have paid more than $146 million in lease payments to the City of San Diego since 2010. We appreciate all the City has done and we look forward to addressing this situation.”
SeaWorld, which is headquartered in Orlando, Florida, owns 12 theme parks around the world, employs thousands of people, and welcomes millions of visitors. Last year, they generated $1.7 billion in profits.
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San Diego's City Attorney Mara Elliott said in a statement to NBC 7 on Wednesday: "We are disappointed that SeaWorld would jeopardize a sixty-year partnership that has proven quite lucrative for their shareholders. San Diego taxpayers are owed more than $12 million, plus penalties and interest that continue to accrue each day. We will fight hard to recover every dime SeaWorld owes to our City."
Chris Workman is an attorney who has handled many property rights cases but isn't involved directly in this dispute. He says this matter is a contractual dispute that will likely have to be resolved by a judge.
"As a result of COVID, businesses of all sizes ran into the exact same problem that SeaWorld is experiencing, which was business was stopped and rents continued to accrue. And then on the other side of the equation, landlords experienced the same thing that the city is experiencing. Tenants were not bringing in income and they had no way to pay it," Workman said.
Workman noted that given the nature of the tenant in this case, it wouldn't be easy for the city of San Diego to pursue any sort of eviction action.
