MICHELLE WILLARD, Post Staff Writer
Posted: Thursday, September 25, 2008 3:06 pm

Hard Rock Park in Myrtle Beach, S.C. has file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to myrtlebeachonline.com.

Court documents show the park owes between $100 million and $500 million, while holding assets of between $100 million and $500 million prompting HRP Myrtle Beach Holdings LLC to file for bankruptcy in Delaware, the article said.

The park was developed by SafeHarbor Holdings, LLC, the same company behind Bible Park USA, which was rejected by Rutherford County in May and now plans to settle in Lebanon.

The 55-acre, $400 million park opened in April and was touted by SafeHarbor’s Executive Director Armon Bar-Tur as a marker for the potential success of Bible Park USA, a biblically themed tourist attraction.

Hard Rock Park was projected to bring 30,000 visitors a day in the high season and around 3 million for the full year, however the park fell short of these claims. SafeHarbor projected the Bible Park would bring in 1.2 million visitors the first year of operations to increase with each following year.

Last month, the park said that attendance was not meeting expectations, laid off employees and reduced operating hours in an effort to save money.

Park spokesman Jim Olecki said the park plans to re-open in 2009 and blamed its failure on a lack of adequate promotion and the nation’s economic downturn.

"The economy, the frozen credit markets, the global drop in tourism all just created a situation where ... we weren't getting the attendance that we needed and the costs exceeded what we were bringing in," he told myrtlebeach.com. "Everything just kind of added up."

According to the Web site, economists and industry experts cited the downturn in the economy as the primary reason for the park’s struggles.