When Seminole County decided last February to spend a new fee of $1.75 per night on a local hotel room, it was to raise millions of dollars to build a new indoor event center.
But with an estimated price tag of over $100 million for a 172,000-square-foot facility (about twice as many hotel rates can support), county leaders now realize there is a big hole in their plans.
“Mathematics isn’t going well,” Commissioner Andia Herr said Tuesday during a staff presentation. “We all need to have realistic expectations or realistic expectations elsewhere in our county dollar spending.”
Proponents hoped the complex could be fully built with Seminole’s new Tourism Improvement District Fees, or revenue from TID.
Now they’re asking if the Seminole should tap on other sources of income for millions of additional needed, such as penny sales tax, sponsorships, or taxpayer money set aside for the county’s general fund parks.
Seminole’s new TID rates — hotel guests began watching on bills on April 1 — are expected to raise $3.2 million a year. The rating is added above the county’s 5% tourism tax (also known as the bed tax) and the 7% sales tax.
But at its TID rate, the Seminole can only borrow up to $51.2 million to build the new indoor facility, according to county records. The latest estimates from 2023 show facility costs between $66 million and $100 million, with county officials acknowledging this week that inflation likely increased costs.
The Seminole lacks the theme parks and other flashy tourist attractions known as adjacent Orange County, but it relies on amateur athletic tournaments to attract visitors for at least the past decade. The county has six outdoor athletic facilities, including the Bulva Sports Complex off East Lake Mary Boulevard, near Orlando Sanford International Airport.
County forecasts show that the multi-million-dollar indoor arena near Boombah is more than twice as many as those booking a room at a local hotel.
Such indoor venues can be used not only for amateur athletic competitions for volleyball, cheerleading and martial arts, but also for small customs, banquets and high school graduation ceremonies.
To move the project forward, the Seminole commissioner agreed to hire a consultant or facility program planning manager on Tuesday, and decided to put together a detailed plan for the indoor complex and how it can be paid.
The consultant responds: “The development project is what we need. Here’s the size we’re looking for, and then we’ll develop not only the scope but also the budget for the project, so we can narrow down that (financial) gap and think that there’s a sweet spot for this.
According to the preliminary plan, the indoor facility proposed for the old vegetable garden on the northwest corner of Moores Station Road and East Lake Mary Boulevard in Sanford will have ample room on 12 basketball courts or 24 volleyball courts. It can take at least 6,000 spectators. It can also include meeting rooms, cafes and stages.
In comparison, Florida Central University’s additional financial arena is 252,000 square feet and can take 10,000 spectators.
Supporters of the indoor complex say the Seminole has long been missing an indoor venue for banquets, customs and graduation. This month, graduates from nine Seminole public high schools head to the UCF Arena to head to the UCF Arena.
“It’s not just sports,” Durr said in helping to build the facility.
But Commissioner Amy Lockhart said the athletic tournament filling the Seminole hotel could contradict local events at the centre. She noted that when the Boombah Sports Complex was built almost a decade ago, it was considered a facility for the local sports league. However, it is now frequently booked for large amateur athletic events.
“We can predict potential conflicts with seven high school graduations in a given month, and there are great offers at the table from people who want to host events that generate a large amount of revenue,” Lockhart said of the indoor complex. “We need to make it available to locals.”
In 2024, the Seminole had around 2.3 million visitors. This included an estimated 60,860 people for the athletic tournament. In comparison, Orange County (Orange County, a global tourist destination with large theme parks) had nearly 60 million visitors last year.
The new indoor complex will introduce an additional 49,794 visitors to the Seminole in year 1, and 85,437 additional visitors in year 5, according to county forecasts.
