The failures of Magic Mountain, Pleasure Island and Freedomland cannot be attributed to Wood. While he and his Marco team created, designed and built the parks, each was managed by local business interests. In the case of Freedomland, the landowner, investors, politicians, city planners and unions maintained other development ideas for the property. About five years after the park was declared bankrupt, the landowner, William Zeckendorf, Sr., publicly acknowledged that the park was a "placeholder" for the property until land variances were obtained for development.