Editor

Eight parties have offered land to Osceola County for an amateur sports complex, which the county would purchase and develop for the United States Specialty Sports Association using tourist taxes.

On April 1, an evaluation and recommendation committee met to review the offers, which were opened March 23, according to county documents. The complex, as proposed, would be comprised of 17 ball fields and a 50,000-square-foot multi-use indoor facility.

Interim County Manager Don Fisher at Monday’s County Commission workshop said that “due to the volume of information” submitted, the committee and county staff reviewing the offers would need to meet again, with a recommendation to be made at either the May 3 or May 10 commission meeting.

Having such a facility would allow the association, which is headquartered at Osceola Heritage Park, to generate thousands of additional overnight stays in local hotels, motels and resorts, officials have said. Association officials said their hope was to have the new facility operating sometime in 2011.

Among those submitting letters of interest were: Avatar Properties (developer of Poinciana); Birchwood Acres (developer of Harmony); Carroll Street Properties (with Russell R. Douglas, Douglas P. Hooker, Marcus P. Hooker and Robert L. Secrist III, all of Orlando, as company officers) and Regional Development Group (with Douglas P. Hooker, Marcus P. Hooker, Britta Hooker, Stanley R. Jones, all of Orlando, as officers); ChampionsGate and Rida Associates; Falcone Group (managed by Arthur Falcone, of Boca Raton); Gramercy Farms/KB Home; Osceola Development Trust, of West Palm Beach; and Townsend & Townsend (attorneys).

The cost of developing the facility, association officials said earlier, could run anywhere from $29 million to $42 million, not including the property.

According to the plan, the county would own the sports complex, which would be built to association specifications, and the association would manage it, without any financial risk to the county if revenue did not cover debt repayment. The indoor facility would be used for any sport in which the association is now involved.

In early March, the county began discussing possibly buying a site offered by Osceola Development Trust’s Myron M. Miller at a price of $115,000 per acre, but County Commissioner John Quiñones requested the process be stopped and opened up to additional landowners, prompting the county manager’s office to issue a request for letters of interest. The county initially also had considered buying a parcel adjacent to Osceola Heritage Park, referred to as the Judge property, but that site was dropped from consideration.

At Monday’s workshop, Quiñones requested the county manager provide him with the names of those serving on the evaluation and recommendation committee, which is comprised of various business interests.

The 6 percent tourist development tax is charged on overnight stays of less than 180 days.