TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Tennis Stadium An Ace Away

Artist's rendering

The planned Wesley Chapel tennis stadium will have 15 courts and seat 5,000.

ADVERTISEMENT

By JULIA FERRANTE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 7, 2008

WESLEY CHAPEL - Six years after the Pasco County Commission agreed to build a national tennis center in Wesley Chapel, the Tourist Development Council has signed off on a management agreement with Saddlebrook Resort.

The tourism panel, which makes recommendations to the county commission, voted 6-0 Wednesday to partner with Saddlebrook owner Tom Dempsey, who will manage the 5,000-seat stadium and 15-court complex through the nonprofit Saddlebrook Sports Foundation. The panel also approved a preliminary development agreement that includes a schedule for design and construction.

Tourism panel member Dick Boehning, who works for Saddlebrook, abstained from the vote.

The county commission has agreed to allocate $7.9 million in tourist tax revenue to pay for construction of the facility on 24 acres next to Saddlebrook. The board would have the final say over the contract and development agreement.

If the commission approves the deal, Dempsey would be responsible for running the Pasco National Tennis Center and for organizing at least three tournaments there each year. The center would be open to the public for events such as concerts. Tennis courts would be available by reservation. Parking areas around the tennis stadium would double as soccer and practice fields.

"We tried to balance the interests of the public and also let Saddlebrook Sports Foundation operate it," said Jane Fagan, the senior assistant county attorney who negotiated the contract.

The project has been delayed for years because of permitting issues and because commissioners decided a couple of years ago to change the site. The stadium initially was to be built on 15 acres on another portion of Wiregrass Ranch. The Porter family, which owns Wiregrass, donated the 24-acre site instead. The larger parcel had wetlands on it, so architects had to reconfigure the plans and Saddlebrook had to secure permits to build around the vulnerable areas.

As part of the management agreement approved Wednesday, Dempsey would put forward as collateral four condominiums on the Saddlebrook Resort property that he estimated are worth $1.1 million, County Attorney Jeffrey Steinsnyder said. The property would serve as a guarantee to the county should Dempsey default on the deal and as a way to pay operating expenses for the life of his 10-year contract with the county.

"If for some reason they walked, we'd have the capital to run the stadium for a period of the contract or 10 years," Steinsnyder said.

At the end of the decade, Dempsey would be given the option to renew the contract for five years and for another five years after that, Fagan said.

Dempsey also negotiated to have Rossetti Architects design the stadium, and Dempsey's foundation will solicit construction bids. When the tennis stadium was conceived, Turner Construction, which built tennis stadiums for the U.S. Open, was interested in building the Pasco stadium.

If the cost of the project exceeds $7.9 million, Dempsey can use profit from the tennis stadium to offset costs up to an additional 5 percent. If the project costs more than that, either party can pull out of the deal, but the county would have to pay for design costs. The county or Saddlebrook still could resurrect the deal.

"We tried to include a lot of protections for the county's benefit," Fagan said.

Dempsey said the county stadium will expand on Saddlebrook's offerings and provide something the private resort does not: access to the public.

"We've outgrown our ability to do that on the land we've got, frankly," Dempsey said.

Dempsey estimated it would take about two years to design and build the stadium.

The main entrance is to be along Porter Boulevard, which has not been constructed. Developers of Wiregrass Ranch in Wesley Chapel are obligated to build the road in 2009 in conjunction with houses on the property, but plans for those neighborhoods have been delayed, County Administrator John Gallagher said.

County Commissioner Jack Mariano, chairman of the Tourist Development Council, supports the project.

"It's been a long process to get to this point," he said. "The tourist tax revenue has to be spent on tourist development projects. The county attorney and county administrator have done a good job to make sure this will be a self-sustaining project."

Commissioner Ann Hildebrand, who does not serve on the Tourist Development Council, was not at Wednesday's meeting. She remained supportive of the project.

"I'm a tennis fan and I voted for it back in 2002, and it's been a long time in getting there," Hildebrand said. "We were waiting to see what the TDC would recommend. While I'm not privy to what's going on, if they've reached an agreement, then I think we will proceed ahead. ... Years ago we did a study to find out what can we do to attract people to this area. You couldn't bring another Bucs. You couldn't bring another Rays. One of the things that was on the top was tennis."

Reporter Julia Ferrante can be reached at (813) 948-4220 or jferrante@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT