A massive Arizona participant sports venue that defaulted on its bonds has launched a naming rights search after Bell Bank pulled out of a 2021 agreement.
Legacy Cares, Inc., the venue's nonprofit developer, said Tuesday Bell Bank Park will be called Legacy Park for now.
Legacy Cares and Legacy Sports have also split, according to a notice posted on the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's EMMA website Tuesday. It said the venue will be run under a qualified management agreement with Elite Sports Group.
The notice also said investment banking firm Miller Buckfire has been retained "to investigate options for the park, including a potential sale of the borrower's interest in the park."
"The search now begins in earnest for a new naming rights partner," Legacy Cares President Douglas Moss said in a statement.
The bank, which entered into a 10-year naming rights deal in September 2021,
"Bell Bank had no control or influence over the operations, budget or management of the facility, nor did it make any debt or equity investment in the facility or any of the affiliated entities," the statement added.
Legacy Cares sold $284 million of mostly tax-exempt revenue bonds in 2020 and 2021 through the Arizona Industrial Development Authority to build the 320-acre Bell Bank Park in Mesa that opened in January 2022. The unrated bonds were priced at yields from 6.25% to 7.836%.
Last year, bond trustee UMB Bank
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The latest financial disclosure for the bonds on the MSRB's
Legacy Cares said the sports and entertainment complex surpassed more than 4.3 million visitors in 2022.