The development cost equates to $273,000 per room, comparable to high-end luxury lodges.

Acquest wants the county to set up a nonprofit corporation to issue tax-free bonds to pay for the project. The county would guarantee the bonds with a $700,000 annual contribution. The city of Sanford would kick in $120,000. Acquest would be using other people's money to develop the enterprise.

The government money would come from the county's three-cent tourist or hotel bed tax which totaled $1.7 million in fiscal 2001. Property taxpayers would not be funding the venture, Sanford city staffers tell GlobeSt.com.

"The only hitch here might come from hoteliers who could balk at contributing that large amount every year," a city staffer tells GlobeSt.com on condition of anonymity.

Benchmark Hospitality Inc. of Woodlands, TX would run the seven-story hotel and conference center which would have an 185-seat dining room. The Downtown Sanford undertaking is planned at Sanford Avenue and First Street, on the western side of Fort Mellon Park.

The city's 40-year-old civic center and the Chamber of Commerce building would be demolished to accommodate the new project.