By Marvin G. Cortner
Editor

The Osceola County Commission May 17 is expected to review various properties that could be developed as a United States Specialty Sports Association amateur sports complex using tourist development taxes.

There were eight sites offered following a county solicitation for letters of interest and Avatar Properties’ site – part of the former Judge farm property across U.S. Highway 192 from Osceola Heritage Park – was ranked highest by a staff selection committee, according to information presented at Monday’s commission meeting.

According to documents filed with the county, the Avatar site is comprised of 161 acres (127 acres of it developable) and is being offered $18,998,000, or an average of $118,000 per acre.

Interim County Manager Don Fisher Monday suggested to the commission that each company or person making an offer should be given 10 minutes to make a presentation, and that the commission has the option to reject all offers if it so chooses or to pursue one that was not ranked first.

The complex, as proposed, would be comprised of 17 ball fields and a 50,000-square-foot, multi-use indoor facility. 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, association officials have said. Those same officials have said they hope to have a new facility operating sometime in 2011.

Besides Avatar Properties, those submitting letters of interest and their ranking, were: the Falcone Group (Rolling Oaks), second; Carroll Street Properties and Regional Development Group, third; Osceola Development Trust (Legacy), fourth; Birchwood Acres (Harmony), fifth; Townsend & Townsend (attorneys), sixth; Gramercy Farms/ KB Home, seventh; and ChampionsGate and Rida Associates, eighth.

The cost of developing the facility, association officials said earlier, could run anywhere from $29 million to $42 million, not including the property. With the cost of property, the price tag could be as high as $60 million.

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.

Gary Abriola, with the 192 Business Alliance, a group comprised of businesses located between Interstate 4 and State Road 535, said the Avatar site would be too far from its member businesses and would be too costly to develop to sports association standards, given the site’s low-lying nature. Abriola urged the county to terminate the current solicitation process and resolicit letters of interest, asking responders how much it would cost to prepare the site for construction.

Abriola also urged the county to reconsider the Legacy site, which was offered initially by Osceola Development Trust’s Myron M. Miller. That site, Abriola said, would be closer to the area represented by the business alliance.

In the Avatar Properties proposal, company officials stated their site would allow development of the sports complex plus leave room for an optional 180-room hotel. They also said the site would enhance the Osceola Heritage Park facilities and have a positive economic impact on the East U.S. Highway 192 corridor and its lodging businesses and would increase the overall tax base in the area.

According to the Avatar Properties offer, development of a sports complex across from OHP would require additional improvements to U.S. Highway 192. Also, $500,000 would be due at contract signing, $5 million when site excavation work begins and $13,498,000 at closing.

Tourist development revenue is generated through a 6 percent tax on overnight stays of less than 180 days. The tax is used to fund a variety of activities, including the Kissimmee Convention and Visitors Bureau, certain nonprofit institutions promoting tourism and to service debt on county-owned sports venues.

The commission will hold a workshop at 10 a.m. Monday on how tourist development tax money is and should be spent. The Osceola County Tourist Development Council, which recommends to the commission how tourist tax revenue should be spent, also is set to meet next week at 3 p.m. Tuesday.