Orange County Convention Center expansion to cost about $900M. Mayor Demings wants to borrow $500M for it

Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings wants county commissioners to decide Tuesday how to spend future tourist-tax money, pledging to honor recommendations of a task force he created to study funding requests.

The panel favored another expansion of the Orange County Convention Center, though its price tag was unknown, and an $800-million upgrade of Camping World Stadium that includes a canopy-roof.

Demings, too, favors both, though the complete convention center expansion now carries a cost estimate “in the $825 million to $900 million range,” according to a four-page memo that he sent commissioners Friday.

In his message to the board, the mayor proposed funding both the expansion and the stadium upgrade, but dividing the two projects into phases and initially funding only the first phase of both.

He proposed borrowing $500 million for the convention center, $400 million for the stadium.

His correspondence arrived in commissioners’ email in-box a day after Comptroller Phil Diamond urged the board to spend cautiously because of the historic volatility of tourist-tax revenues.

Orange County Comptroller releases memo urging cautious tourist-tax spending

Commissioner Mayra Uribe sent her own memo Monday to fellow commissioners, raising a slew of questions about costs, notably about borrowing money against tourist-tax revenues to finance the projects.

Uribe took issue with the mayor describing as a “minor tweak” extending the repayment period for borrowing $900 million from 20 to 30 years. “Yet extending the term of our bonds would result in significantly higher borrowing costs,” she said.

She also questioned why the county should pay to improve the stadium, a city venue.

The Tourist Development Tax, sometimes called TDT for short, is a 6% assessment added to the cost of a hotel room, an Airbnb rental or other short-term lodging option. The levy brought in a record $336 million in fiscal year 2021-22 and is on pace to break that mark in the 2022-23 fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.

With receipts counted through June, TDT has pulled in about $257 million, an average of about $32 million a month, or about $4 million a month better than last year, comptroller tallies show.

Revenues have slumped since March when the tax raised nearly $39 million, a record for a month.

Orange County Convention Center

Demings said phase one of the Convention Center expansion would cost about $500 million.

It calls for an 80,000-square-foot ballroom, 60,000-square-feet of meeting space and building a grand concourse to connect the North-South building with a covered, climate-controlled walkway.

In his memo, he said convention center executives demonstrated the benefits of the proposed expansion — paused in 2020 when TDT revenue crashed — “are still relevant in this post-pandemic period.”

“The project will provide substantial economic benefit to this community, creating jobs, bringing in visitors from outside the region and start to infuse new dollars into our local economy, achieving a notable return on investment,” Demings said, describing the expansion as “my priority.”

But a document convention center officials sent commissioners warned, “The vitality of the project and its estimated $500-million annual economic impact … would be significantly impacted negatively if the entire project is not funded.”

Camping World Stadium

Under the mayor’s plan, adding a roof-canopy would not be part of the stadium’s first phase.

Florida Citrus Sports would get instead $400 million to replace upper deck terraces and add a 100,000-square-foot field house, a multipurpose community space projected to host over 100 events a year.

In 2022, the stadium hosted over 900,000 fans with 67% coming from outside Central Florida.

Adding a canopy-style roof similar to Hard Rock Stadium near Miami or So-Fi Stadium near Los Angeles will make Orlando more likely to land sporting events and major concerts that now pass the city over, according to a document Florida Citrus Sports sent commissioners seeking support.

The stadium upgrade was ranked second by the TDT task force.

Arts & Culture

Demings said his plan allows for millions more in arts funding, as the task force recommended.

The Application Review Committee, ARC for short, authorized to evaluate smaller requests for TDT funding, could get as much as $15 million a year over the next five year to give to local venues.

In recent years, it has provided TDT grants of $10 million or less to Harriett’s Orlando Ballet Centre, the Orlando Science Center and The Plaza Live, home of the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra.

ARC only opens an application window when excess TDT funds are available.

Orange County commissioners accept TDT task force report but question recommendations

The mayor also promoted increased funding for the Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs.

The county office, headed by director Terry Olson in partnership with the United Arts of Central Florida, provided financial backing last year for the Fringe Festival and 33 other cultural tourism groups.

Tourist-tax task force recommends more funding for arts, sports

While the task force endorsed a request from the Greater Orlando Sports Commission for an extra $6 million a year to bid on marquee sporting events, the mayor proposed the funds come from Visit Orlando.

The agency receives about 30% of TDT revenues for tourism marketing.

“I am deliberately spreading the dollars to several projects, recognizing this may cause some discomfort in how those applicants sought to deliver their projects, especially our [convention center],” Demings said. “However, this allows us to keep several elements and areas of our community active, drive more construction, provide some certainty of our desire to maintain competitiveness in the marketplace, preserve the jobs that currently benefit from the presence of these venues, grow our small business ecosystem, and equally important, energize our arts and cultural community.”

Demings said he considered the comptroller’s caution on spending to be a prudent approach.

“But I am optimistic about our future and will closely monitor TDT revenue with hopes that it will perform stronger than what is currently forecast,” the mayor said. “I am sure the Comptroller also hopes the TDT growth exceeds his estimates.”

He said the county can reassess its financial position if it has strong TDT growth next year.

shudak@orlandosentinel.com