Arthurs Seat Eagle owners say the gondola will run again and is not in financial difficulty
One of the Mornington Peninsula’s main tourist attractions has been placed into administration but operators say the gondola is not gone for good. This is what one of the owners had to say about the situation.
South East
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The Arthurs Seat Eagle will fly again, despite the Mornington Peninsula tourist attraction going into administration on Monday.
Part-owner Simon McKeon said the gondola ride, which closed on Sunday night to minimise the risk of coronavirus transmission, would be “up and running again as soon as the government gives us the all clear”.
In an unusual move, the company was placed in the hands of external administrators the following day, despite having no debt with banks or other financial institutions.
Mr McKeon wouldn’t be drawn on the reasons behind the move, but confirmed the company had enjoyed a “positive cash flow since day one”.
He said the company’s permanent staff still had jobs and promised no one would be left out of pocket.
“It is the intention of the two major shareholders that all our permanent staff and trade creditors will be paid in full,” Mr McKeon said.
Mr McKeon is a major shareholder together with Melbourne transport, logistics and property billionaire Peter Gunn and his family via their PGA Group.
The closure of the Eagle came after a grim summer of smoke haze from nearby bushfires and a string of wet weekends.
“Like all the other outdoor tourist attractions in the region, we found it difficult. People certainly weren’t lining up to buy tickets to look at a brown sky,” Mr McKeon said.
“We had a lot of rain over February and while that was great for the farmers it wasn’t for us. Just as the weather improved school went back.”
The company had been looking forward to a busy Easter until “coronavirus threw everything up in the air”.
Administrators Robert Ditrich and Craig Crosbie from PwC are now in charge of the operations.
The key tourist attraction opened in December 2016 at an estimated cost of $20m.
It was a passion project for Mr McKeon who spent five years redeveloping the iconic chair lift at Arthurs Seat.
The company signed a 50-year lease on the site with the Victorian government in 2015 and went on to develop a gondola-style lift running from a base station in Dromana to the Arthur’s Seat Summit.
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Not everyone was thrilled with the plan and locals fought hard to prevent it going ahead.
Save Our Seat member Kylie Greer said while the group predicted the attraction would struggle “we take no joy in this outcome”.
“As locals we could see this announcement coming as the numbers had significantly dropped over summer,” she said.