Kuvera Partners announced plans for Aquarium at the Boardwalk, the much anticipated new attraction for the highly-visible property at the center of the Branson Entertainment District, formerly occupied by the Grand Palace Theater. The group has been gathering insight and conducting research over the last three years since they purchased the property.

"Redeveloping the Grand Palace site with an Aquarium is, without a doubt, the most impactful way to reactive this key section of Highway 76," says Partner Tej Sundher. "We've gained excellent insight through eight rounds of consumer testing over the last three years and all of the data pointed us here."

Sundher indicated that Kuvera Partners has the financing in place to develop the aquarium and is ready to move forward. Currently, the City of Branson's special legal counsel and financial advisors are conducting a review that will be used to develop terms of a potential agreement for tax increment financing. As soon as the City approves the request for assistance, the plan is to begin construction early 2019 and open in March 2020.

For more information, click on this link to Aquarium at the Boardwalk.

Opportunity Zones were added to the tax code by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on December 22, 2017.An Opportunity Zone is an economically-distressed community where new investments, under certain conditions, may be eligible for preferential tax treatment. Branson, MO has a prime Opportunity Zone that was nominated for that designation by the State of Missouri and certified by the Secretary of the U.S. Treasury. Ours is within the first set of Opportunity Zones, covering parts of 18 states, that were designated on April 9, 2018.

Opportunity Zones are designed to spur economic development by providing tax benefits to investors.

First, investors can defer tax on any prior gains reinvested in a Qualified Opportunity Fund. Second, if the investor holds the investment in the Opportunity Fund for at least ten years, the investor would be eligible for an increase in basis equal to the fair market value of the investment on the date that the investment is sold or exchanged.

A Qualified Opportunity Fund is an investment vehicle that is set up as either a partnership or corporation for investing in eligible property that is located in an Opportunity Zone and that utilizes the investor’s gains from a prior investment for funding the Opportunity Fund. You can get the tax benefits, even if you don’t live, work or have a business in an Opportunity Zone. All you need to do is invest in a Qualified Opportunity Fund.

To become a Qualified Opportunity Fund, an eligible taxpayer self certifies.  (Thus, no approval or action by the IRS is required.)  To self-certify, a taxpayer merely completes a form (which will be released in the summer of 2018) and attaches that form to the taxpayer’s federal income tax return for the taxable year.  (The return must be filed timely, taking extensions into account.)

For more information and Opportunity Zone Resources CLICK HERE.

For questions and answers about Opportunity Zones CLICK HERE.

Construction may begin in 2018 on a gondola from downtown Branson west to the Butterfly Palace, according to Jeff Green, president of American Gondolas Inc. during his recent status update to city officials. The company plans to have financing in place by early fall. The design calls for 12-13 ADA accessible terminals and 400-600 gondola cars that carry 8-10 passengers each. Estimates are that the overhead transport system would be able to carry 3,000 passengers an hour each way. According to Green, the company still needs to secure easements from property owners where the terminals will be located. The cost of the project is now estimated at around $260 million to be full funded by private investors.

Source: Branson Tri-Lakes News, June 23, 2018 "Searching for Funding Gondola company president gives update on project" by John Robinson

Silver Dollar City’s new attraction is breaking a number of world records. Time Traveler is the fastest, steepest, and tallest complete-circuit spinning roller coaster in the world. It is also the only one to include three inversions as well as two launches. All of the assertions are true, and the combination of features and elements helps make Time Traveler a unique, wild, and wonderful ride. Find out how master ride engineers have controlled the spin plus photos and video here.

New Indoor Family Science-Based Attraction To Open in 2019

Branson visitors will soon be able to let their imaginations run wild at the newest installation of WonderWorks, on Highway 76 right in the heart of the tourism mecca’s family entertainment district. WonderWorks offers a collection of interactive and entertaining science exhibits based on space, physics, and math themes. Each of their locations, in Orlando, Myrtle Beach, Syracuse, Pigeon Forge and Panama City Beach, feature their trademark facility design that looks as if an existing building was ripped free of the ground by severe weather and dropped upside down on its roof. The Branson location is set to open in the summer of 2019. For more information visit www.WonderWorksOnline.com