Local Attraction At Virginia Beach|"Aurora & Gaylord Hotel Developer File Suit Against Denver Hotels"

Source              :    denverpost.com
Category         :    Local Attraction At Virginia Beach
By                   :    Aldo Svaldi
Posted By      :    Hotels in Virginia Beach North Courtyard

Local Attraction At Virginia Beach

Aurora officials Wednesday struck back against 11 hotels seeking to overturn state tax incentives for the proposed Gaylord Rockies Hotel and Conference Center, making the fight a little more personal. "This small group of downtown Denver hotels is afraid of competition," said Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan, who hosted a news conference near Union Station to announce a countersuit. The station is where Sage Hospitality Resources, which operates five of the properties suing Aurora, is building a new hotel, with the help of public subsidies, Hogan noted. Those include $17 million from the Regional Transportation District and about $7.5 million in local tax credits out of $48 million in spending. Aurora officials called the initial complaint from the hotels last month "frivolous" and designed to thwart the Gaylord, which is raising funds to finance construction.

The legal standoff has the potential to further damage Colorado's reputation for regional cooperation and drag into the fray two of the state's biggest business names — Philip Anschutz and Walter Isenberg. "We will take depositions and have them as witnesses," Aurora's city attorney, Charles Richardson, said of the various parties involved. Isenberg is CEO of Sage. Anschutz's holding company owns the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, another plaintiff. Both declined to comment. The tit-for-tat legal action is something that economic-development officials have long feared — a public battle over incentives and future development. In one corner are backers of the 1,500-room Gaylord, which in May 2012 received approval for an $81.4 million subsidy under the state's Regional Tourism Act. The hotel, near Denver International Airport, would create 10,000 construction and 2,500 permanent jobs and draw more than 450,000 outside visitors each year, backers say. In the other corner are a group of hotels concerned that the Gaylord, with its massive public subsidies, will glut the market and cannibalize their business.

The group's chief legal argument centers on changes in the project since the application was approved. They want Aurora and its new partners, Rida Development Corp. and Marriott International, to submit updated information and undergo another public hearing. After the state's economic-development office and attorney general rejected their request this past summer, they filed a suit last month. Aurora, the Aurora Urban Renewal Authority and Rida, the hotel's developer, are plaintiffs in the countersuit, filed in Arapahoe County District Court on Wednesday. They are seeking unspecified damages for financial costs and delays, which Richardson said could reach millions of dollars. Hotels named as defendants in the new complaint include the Curtis, the Broadmoor, the Brown Palace Hotel, Denver Marriott City Center, Cheyenne Mountain Conference Resort, J.W. Marriott Denver Cherry Creek, Courtyard Denver Downtown, Magnolia Hotel, Oxford Hotel, Westin Westminster and the Homewood Suites by Hilton Downtown Denver Convention Center Hotel.

Source:denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_24369941/aurora-and-gaylord-hotel-developer-file-suit-against