NEWS

Metro Council passes $14M incentive package for Opryland water park

Joey Garrison
USA Today Network - Tennessee

Ryman Hospitality will get an estimated $13.8 million in city incentives as part of the company's plans for a new private water park at its Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center following Metro Council action Tuesday.

The council voted 30-6 with four abstentions to approve on final reading a plan to keep Opryland’s property tax payments flat through 2025 after this year’s reappraisal. As a result, Metro won't take in about $1.63 million in expected annual property taxes the city would typically collect from the water park.

The deal, which was crafted by Mayor Megan Barry's administration, also gives a six year extension on $1 million in annual hotel-tax rebates, now until 2031. Ryman began receiving from Metro after the city's devastating 2010 flood. In exchange Ryman will donate two parcels, at 2400 and 2410 McGavock Pike, to Metro, providing Nashville's parks department new land for public boat access to the Cumberland River.

The total value of the incentives is subject to fluctuate after future reappraisals.

The council's vote comes after Ryman in January announced plans for a new 217,000-square-foot water park called SoundWaves that the company intends to spend $90 million in private dollars to construct. The water park, billed as the only one like it in the country, will be open to hotel patrons only —a caveat some council members have struggled with, but not enough to derail the proposal.

Councilman Jeff Syracuse, whose district includes the Opryland area, said Ryman has been a major part of Nashville's economic growth for decades and that the water park would be a "grand addition to the Nashville experience."

"Metro has always been a partner in supporting Ryman as a key employer and tax generator with a brand that is uniquely Nashville but known worldwide," he said. "I do believe this deal is measured, it's limited and it falls within the tradition of Nashville supporting Ryman and the resort."

Councilman Scott Davis spoke for the project as well, calling it an important economic development driver and saying incentives like these should be duplicated in other parts of Davidson County.

"Bring it," he urged the mayor's office.

Council members who voted against the incentives were the council's Budget and Finance Committee chairman John Cooper as well as council members Jim Shulman, Kathleen Murphy, Colby Sledge, Sharon Hurt and Mike Freeman.

Cooper said the city's lost property tax revenue from the Ryman incentives would come at the expense of neighborhood projects down the road.

"Every time that we need something in the future for our districts — a reading instructor for children, a police man, a body camera or a stormwater drain — you will know where to find it," Cooper said. "You will find it in an Opryland swimming pool."

Shulman said council members need more evidence on whether city tax incentives — which started to become a common Metro trend in former Mayor Karl Dean's tenure  — actually work before approving such deals.

Read related stories:

Council advances $14M in incentives for Opryland water park

Ryman to pour $90M into Opryland water park

A spokesman for Ryman said the company is grateful for the mayor and council's support and that the project "will greatly enhance the Nashville tourism landscape."

SoundWaves, in the works for a couple of years, is to include year-round in-door attractions as well as seasonal outdoor features. Elements include a lazy river, a wave pool, an adult bar area, multiple slide towers, live music, private cabana rentals and theater-sized television screens. The project is targeted for what is currently self-parking on the side of the hotel where visitors would arrive from McGavock Pike. Hotel guests will be able to access SoundWaves from inside the hotel.

Colin Reed, CEO of Ryman, has said the purpose of Ryman's SoundWaves is to create something that doesn't exist today to appeal to tourists wanting to spend more time in Nashville while also attracting a new type of convention business that caters to families. He said visitors who used to spend 24 hours in Nashville are wanting to spend four or five days, and they want more options.

"This really, truly will be the first luxury water park of its kind in the United States of America," Reed told the council last month. "This is a water park on steroids."

Reed has also committed to providing the necessary easements and working with architects to jump-start a long-discussed, Opryland Greenway connector, which would connect the Cumberland River Pedestrian Bridge and the Opryland footprint. Several council members have sought to use the discussion on the incentives to advocate for the greenway.

As part of the agreement with the city, Ryman is to achieve substantial completion of the water park by the end of September 2019.

"Our city is fortunate to have a vibrant tourism and hospitality industry that creates quality jobs for residents and generates tax revenues that fund schools and other essential services," Barry said in a statement. "Continued investment in all areas of the city, such as the project Ryman Hospitality Properties is planning, are vital to our success as a welcoming city for tourists as well as an ideal place to live, work and play."

The mayor's office has said it evaluates each incentive deal on a case-by-case basis on merits and looks to ensure there's a return for taxpayers. They've also disputed the premise that Nashvillians won't benefit from the water park, pointing to new jobs and tax revenues that it would produce both directly and indirectly.

An economic impact study conducted by University of Tennessee economist Bill Fox and commissioned by Ryman found that Gaylord has an annual economic impact of $866.5 million and that the new water park would increase that sum by $185 million annually. State and local taxes generated by the water park will bring in $4.6 million annually, according to the same study.

Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8236 and on Twitter @joeygarrison.