The $315 million undertaking is being funded by Capital Trust agency revenue bonds and will be paid back from Casino sales, Hard Rock says in a prepared statement. Hard Rock's British parent, the Rank Group Plc of London, is buying $25 million in bonds.

The casinos are being jointly developed through a licensing agreement with Hard Rock, the Seminoles and Baltimore, MD-based Cordish Co. The projects are expected to open at an unspecified time in 2004.

As an initial concession to the state's anti-casino position, the properties will not be patterned after Las Vegas' high-stakes poker and slots. Instead, the 90,000-sf Tampa operation, off Exit 5 and Interstate 4, will have 1,500 slot machines, 50 gaming tables, a 250-room hotel and 12 restaurants.

The 115,000-sf South Florida enterprise, at U.S. 441 and Stirling Road, will have 2,000 slot machines, 65 gaming tables, a 750-room hotel and 15 restaurants.

The new casinos will replace existing Seminole gambling halls in Tampa and Hollywood. Operators/managers for the two hotels haven't been disclosed.

The twin ventures come as area brokers speculate on what the tribe will do eventually with the 1,124 acres it purchased last year in Osceola County near Walt Disney World. Tribe officials say they are holding the dirt as an investment.

But hospitality consultants tell GlobeSt.com on condition of anonymity the Seminoles and development partners are probably planning a major entertainment undertaking on the site as the economy recovers and tourist volume gets back to previously high levels.

"You've got to remember one big thing about developments planned by the tribe on Indian reservations," an Orlando developer who has worked with the Seminoles tells GlobeSt.com on condition of anonymity. "They're constructing on federal land they own and don't have to be concerned with many of the local and state approval processes conventional developments have to go through."

The broker says, "That's a huge time-saver in getting a project up and running on a fast track."

Instant Insights /

Hard Rock, Seminoles Roll Dice in $315M Casino Venture

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