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American company EPR Properties announced it concluded the purchase of seven parks, including Montreal’s La Ronde, from Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, in a news release Thursday.
The Kansas City-based real estate investment trust is partnering with La Ronde Operations Inc., owned by Kieran Burke, to manage the park. Burke’s companies also run the recreational complex Village Vacances Valcartier in Quebec and the Calypso waterpark in Limoges, Ont.
“I have a special affection for La Ronde, having attended Expo 67 as a child,” he wrote in the statement, referring to the 1967 event for which the amusement park was built.
Burke said he is committed to “respecting the traditions and rich history that are so dear to Montrealers and visitors from around the world.”
He previously served as the CEO for real-estate firm Premier Parks, Inc., which acquired Six Flags in 1998. Three years later, the City of Montreal sold La Ronde to Six Flags for around $30 million.
Burke managed the park for a few years until he was removed from his position at the company after a major shareholder won a proxy fight in 2005.
New momentum for heritage preservation?
Expo 67 historian Roger La Roche says he’s feeling positive about the sale given Burke’s experience in Quebec.
“He already knows what La Ronde was,” said La Roche. “There is a small but still existing possibility that he understands what the family part is … the importance of the park for the city of Montreal.”
According to La Roche, Six Flags had previously struggled to understand the park as a social place for Montrealers — selling adrenaline over the family experience, he says — and didn’t prioritize its cultural value.
Notably, it announced the dismantlement of La Ronde’s La Spirale in 2025, an observation tower which had been out of service for years despite attempts by the park to revive it.
“Six Flags never understood exactly what La Ronde was,” he said.
In a statement Thursday, the office of Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada said it’s excited to collaborate with the new managers to “boost La Ronde’s appeal and contribute to making Montreal the best tourism destination in the world.”
La Roche says the sale will be a good test for Martinez Ferrada’s administration to see how committed it is to preserving heritage, given that the city still needs to approve the lease.
In total, Six Flags is selling its seven parks, the majority of which are in the U.S., for $331 million US (about $451.5 million Cdn), it said in its own statement. According to them, the sale should be finalized in about a month.
Six Flags filed for bankruptcy in 2009 and merged with a competitor in 2024. It has been under financial strain in recent years.
Six Flags says La Ronde will honour season passes already sold for the 2026 season, including Six Flags’s multi-park pass. It says the sale will have no significant impact on the park’s clientele.
