Title:
|
An Act concerning the Authorization, Issuance and Delivery of Special Obligation Bonds equal to the aggregate principal amount of Fifty Million Dollars ($50,000,000) for the County to finance or reimburse additional costs of the convention center being constructed at National Harbor as part of the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Cente
|
Title
An Act concerning the Authorization, Issuance and Delivery of Special Obligation Bonds equal to the aggregate principal amount of Fifty Million Dollars ($50,000,000) for the County to finance or reimburse additional costs of the convention center being constructed at National Harbor as part of the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Cente
Background
This legislation provides for additional public financing for the convention center being constructed at National Harbor as part of the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center. Expected to open in 2008, the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center will be one of the main focal points of National Harbor.
Initial public financing was executed on May 11, 2005, when $95,000,000 in aggregate principal amount of Prince George’s County Taxable Special Obligation Bonds (Bonds) were issued by the County and placed into escrow. The Bonds are to be repaid from tax increment revenues, a hotel occupancy tax and a special hotel rental tax generated in the convention center and hotel development and special taxing districts created by CR-26-2004. The County’s full faith and credit is not pledged to the Bonds. The Bonds are authorized by the Tax Increment Financing Act, the Special Taxing District Act and CB-24-2004. The Bonds will be released from escrow upon satisfaction of the requirements set forth in the development agreement between the County and a Gaylord Entertainment affiliate, including completion of construction of the convention center.
Recently, Gaylord Entertainment announced its planned expansion of the hotel by an additional 500 rooms making it a 2,000-luxury hotel room facility. The expansion of the facility is expected to bring an additional 200 permanent jobs to the hotel alone, bringing total employment at the hotel to approximately 2,200. Further, as a result of the expansion it is expected that the County will receive an increase in net tax revenues of approximately $156 million over a 30-year period for a total of approximately $494 million.
The enclosed legislation would authorize the issuance of $50 million additional special obligation bonds (Additional Bonds) to reimburse a Gaylord Entertainment affiliate for additional costs in connection with its construction of a convention center. Like the Bonds issued in 2005, the Additional Bonds would be repaid from tax increment revenues, a hotel occupancy tax and a special hotel rental tax generated in the convention center and hotel development and special taxing districts created by CR-26-2004. The County’s full faith and credit is not pledged to the Additional Bonds.
The Additional Bonds would not be issued until the convention center and the 2,000-room hotel facility had been completed and were open for business to the public and would be repaid on a subordinate basis as to the Bonds and other related payments and as to annual payments of tax revenues to be remitted to the County. The annual payment to the County equals the projected tax revenues to be received by the County after payment of debt service on the Bonds and other related payments. This approach preserves for the County the expected benefit it was projected to receive while the Bonds are outstanding.