The Pasco County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) approved regular business item R5 that green-lit the RADDsports Wiregrass Sports Complex, as well as agreeing to double the Tourist Development Tax (TDT), or bed tax, in order to help finance it.
The $44-million project, which will be built on part of a 224-acre parcel located northeast of the Shops of Wiregrass owned by the county (that was previously donated by the Porter family), has taken on many manifestations over the years but RADDsports’ proposal won over county commissioners at nearly every juncture.
“I had to sit here, look (former Major League Baseball star) Gary Sheffield in the face and tell him, no,” BCC chair and District 2 commissioner Mike Moore said, referring to a failed plan for a Wiregrass Ranch baseball complex at the same site in 2015.
“That was a bad project,” Moore said, “but this is a good project.”
The journey to build some sort of sports complex is eight years old, and a 5-0 vote by the commissioners indicated that they think they have finally found the right one.
“I 100-percent support the project and the steps that went into it,” said BCC vice-chair (and Dist. 4 commissioner) Mike Wells.
The project design calls for a multi-purpose sports complex that is anchored by a 98,000-sq.ft. multi-purpose building, which can host volleyball, basketball, cheerleading and other indoor events. The sports complex also will include eight outdoor sports fields, an outdoor amphitheatre and event lawn as well as pavilions, a playground and trails.
“This complex, along with (Florida Hospital) Center Ice, Florida Hospital of Wesley Chapel and Saddlebrook really put us on the map,” said Pasco strategy policy administrator Richard Gehring.
Funding sources for the planned complex include $11 million previously set aside by the BCC ($8.5-million in tourist tax funds and $2.5 million in excess bond proceeds from a prior half-cent sales tax bond), a county-backed loan of $14,253,700, plus $18,750,000 in private equity and debt from the Mainsail Development, which will be building a hotel on the complex site.
The two-percent increase in the TDT is expected to generate $1.2 million annually, which will help by paying down the loan, along with the revenue RADDsports says the complex will generate (the company says that by year six, the gross revenue will be approximately $4.6 million).
A super majority vote (four of the five BCC commissioners) is required to officially pass the TDT increase. A vote will be held at a future meeting, following a public hearing.
Despite doubling the TDT, it would still be lower than the TDTs in both Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties.
There also was some discussion about losing hotel revenue to Hillsborough County. Commissioners cited the December lacrosse tournament hosted by Dick’s Sporting Goods at Wesley Chapel District Park and how the county lost a lot of hotel revenue with people electing to stay at hotels in Hillsborough County, including several in New Tampa.
Gehring recommended creating a list of nearby, “preferred” hotels within the county and charging a fee for not using one of the preferred hotels.
The RADDsports proposal includes a Mainsail Development project for a $19-million, 120-room Marriot branded Residence Inn to be privately financed. The county says the sports complex will generate 27,000 room nights per year.
Saddlebrook Resort owner Tom Dempsey, as well as Saddlebrook general manager Patrick Ciaccio, were two of a handful of speakers to voice their opinions before the commissioners debated the sports complex project.
Their 800-room resort has nearly a quarter of all the available hotel rooms in Pasco County, and as a result, collects most of the bed taxes.
“I’ve been in the sports business for 30 years and I think this project is questionable,’’ Dempsey said. “A tourist tax from Day 1 is a loser. I disagree with the two-percent tax increase.”
Other nearby hotels in Pasco include: a 92-room Fairfield Inn & Suites planned on nearby property in Wiregrass, an 80-room Holiday Inn Express that just opened east of I-75, and a 125-room Hilton Garden Inn that is currently under construction at S.R. 56 and Silver Maple Pkwy.
No comment yet, add your voice below!