Gaylord Entertainment’s surprise decision last week to seek an outside developer for a 1,500-room conference hotel in Aurora has left the Colorado Economic Development Commission in a state of limbo.
Last month, that commission awarded Aurora $81.4 million in incentives for the hotel and provided Pueblo with another $14.8 million for an expansion of its convention center and other projects.
The awards, spread across 30 years, allow the two projects to cover their costs from a portion of the state sales taxes they generate.
Gaylord on Thursday, however, said the $824 million project in Aurora won’t be built on the scale initially proposed and that someone else would have to get it developed.
Will the incentives stay the same or need to change? Will they be withdrawn? Will Aurora need to reapply? The state’s economic-development chief says it is too early to know.
“We need to wait and understand the facts as the applicants present them and make a decision accordingly,” said Ken Lund, executive director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade.
The commission set a 120-day window for Aurora and Pueblo to show they are moving forward, which would put them on the agenda at the commission’s September meeting.
The commission could extend that window, but neither city has an unlimited amount of time to comply.
The two grants are the first awarded by the commission under the Regional Tourism Act, which was passed in 2009. The commission will start taking applications for the next round of projects this fall, and it is possible Aurora might have to start over if any changes are significant.
Aldo Svaldi: 303-954-1410, asvaldi@denverpost.com or
