Nashville could be site of new $50M vertical rollercoaster

Opryland theme park is long gone, but a new roller coaster — one that takes up far less space — could be headed for Nashville.

Orlando-based Thrillcorp said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it was exploring Nashville for a vertical roller coaster, called a “Polercoaster.” The more than 600-foot-high attraction can be built on a half-acre and will cost as much as $50 million, according to the filing and a news release.

A Polercoaster provides passengers the loops, rolls, dives and speed that a traditional roller coaster offers, plus the thrill of height, the company said in the corporate filing. The structure also allows for ziplines, observation decks and rotating tower-top restaurants.

“We make the best park attractions more thrilling by going taller,” Bill Kitchen, Thrillcorp founder, said in a news release. “We put them where people can use them more frequently and at a much lower cost than a theme park. We make it a casual outing as opposed to a full day’s commitment. Guests can come out for a few hours, ride a few world-class rides and shop, dine or just stroll. It is a new category of experience.”

Spokesman Michael Kitchen said Thrillcorp is exploring several cities and has not determined a specific Nashville site. The company’s corporate filing mentioned Myrtle Beach, S.C., as another potential location.

Nashville “has very good demographics between an hour’s drive time, so you have a strong population mix,” Michael Kitchen said. “You do have a very good tourism base there as well. You have a major city without a major amusement park, which is also beneficial, and it’s a great city.”

Thrillcorp’s attractions have been built in more than 200 markets and have generated more than $2 billion in revenue, according to Michael Kitchen. Those include the Skycoaster, a giant swing featured at Opryland before it shut down. Bill Kitchen also invented the iFly, an indoor skydiving venue.

Seeing the gains that third-party developers achieved through licensing and developing the attractions, Kitchen created Thrillcorp in 2015 to take on that role for his Polercoaster and SkySpire attractions. The SkySpire takes guests up a tower, providing them with 360-degree views of an area.

According to the SEC filing, Thrillcorp is seeking to raise $48 million, and $15 million would go toward building a Polercoaster in Nashville or other cities.