Seminole County has long desired a large indoor facility that could host sports tournaments, music concerts and other events to serve residents and help attract tourists from outside the area.
This time, authorities have found an unconventional way to pay for such a venue, which is estimated to cost more than $65 million. It would create a tourism improvement district that would allow the county’s large hotels to collect an additional fee for each room stay.
This additional fee is on top of the 5% county tourism tax and 7% state sales tax already added to tourists’ bills for hotel rooms and other short-term lodging expenses, at rates set by hoteliers. It will be collected. It’s a fee that county residents rarely pay or even see.
On Tuesday, Seminole commissioners will discuss moving forward with establishing a tourism improvement district (TID), which is expected to likely be approved.
“What they asked for was [an indoor events center] For years,” Commissioner Jay Zembower said of county tourism officials. “So this is how they can fund it.”
There are approximately 200 TIDs in 20 states across the country. But its only location in Florida is in the historic community of Ybor City, just northeast of Tampa.
West Hollywood, California, known for its vibrant nightlife that draws tourists, first established such a district in the early 1990s, which now attracts about $41 million annually.
Here’s how Seminole’s proposed TID works:
County officials will first establish a district consisting of at least 60 hotel rooms. These large hotels attract mostly tourists who book rooms for large amateur sports tournaments at county facilities, such as the Boomba Sports Complex near Orlando Sanford International Airport.
After a majority of these hotels approved the district’s formation through a petition drive, industry representatives established a governing board known as an “owners association” to set assessment rates, manage district funds, and manage revenue. will be handed over to the county. .
Tiffany Gallagher of Civitas, a consulting firm hired by the Seminoles, said in the county’s presentation that TID “costs no direct cost to the county.” “This rating does not affect district residents. It is passed on to tourists… and businesses have a direct voice.”
County officials said the flat rate assessment would likely be less than $10 per room, per night. A $3 assessment, for example, could generate up to $5.6 million in the first year, according to county documents. Revenue will also increase as more events are held at indoor venues, the people said.
Zembower and other Seminole officials argued that the assessment was not a tax, but a flat fee set by the hotel group. Unlike the current lodging tax, this assessment rate does not require county commission approval, making it an attractive situation for politicians who never like to vote in favor of tax increases.
Still, Gallagher noted that TID’s ratings aren’t high enough to prevent tourists looking elsewhere for cheaper hotel accommodations from booking rooms.
Last year, the average daily room rate for hotels in Seminole County was $128.90, one of the lowest in Central Florida. The one in Orange County, for example, was about $86 more expensive.
“We’re always concerned about demand,” she said. “We’re doing this project to increase demand. We don’t want to suppress demand.”
The typical visitor who books a hotel room in Seminole is 46 years old and has an annual household income of $96,400, according to county data.
TID funds will cover construction and operating costs for the facility, which is proposed to be built on a meadow northeast of the intersection of Moore’s Station Road and Cameron Avenue.
It will be about 140,000 square feet (about the size of one and a half Walmart Supercenters), can seat about 6,000 people and host basketball, volleyball, martial arts, cheerleading and other indoor sporting events, according to county officials. He says it can be done.
It can also be used for music events, theatrical performances, school graduation ceremonies, etc. Most Seminole high schools now have to hold graduation ceremonies at venues outside the county, such as the University of Central Florida.
In terms of tourist destinations, Seminole lags neighboring Orange County, which has large theme parks and glitzy resorts.
However, the Seminoles host numerous sports tournaments each year, drawing thousands of players, coaches, families and fans from across the country to outdoor facilities such as the Boomba Sports Complex and Soccer and Softball Complex.
TID revenue will supplement Seminole’s tourism development tax (bed tax), which collected $6.9 million in fiscal year 2023.
Officials also noted that the as-yet-unnamed indoor facility is not a “mini-convention center,” since a Seminole hotel with a large ballroom serves that function.
“The great thing about this hotel is that there are mutually agreed upon benefits between the hotel and the county,” said Guy Cunha, administrator of the Seminole Economic Development and Tourism Authority. “Hoteliers are looking for indoor complexes, and the county is looking for ways to pay for it.”
Local representatives for Seminole’s major hotel chains did not respond to requests for comment on the proposal.
If Seminole is successful, Cunha predicts other Florida communities besides Ybor City will embrace TID.
“I would be surprised if it was just the two of us,” Cunha said.
