DALLAS - The Denver suburb of Aurora's plan to provide $300 million of subsidies for a Gaylord Rockies Hotel and Conference Center violates the state's Taxpayer Bill of Rights, a state district court ruled Jan. 24.
Any proposed increase in taxes must be approved by voters, according to Adams County State District Judge Ted C. Tow III.
Tow issued the ruling after a lawsuit challenged the subsidies. Aurora has faced strong opposition from competing hotels to its plan to subsidize the Gaylord resort on land it owns near Denver International Airport. The ruling, which will be appealed, brings further delays to Aurora's plans for the hotel.
Construction plans for the Gaylord Rockies project have been on hold since a group of 11 hotels in downtown Denver and Colorado Springs sued Aurora over the project in 2013. Developers have said finding investors for the project is difficult while the project is under the cloud of lawsuits.
Plans call for a 1,500-room hotel and conference center plus a water park, developed by Houston-based Rida Development Corp. at the site. Aurora economic development officials claim the project will create as many as 2,500 permanent jobs plus temporary construction work, attract thousands of new visitors and contribute $273 million a year to the local economy.
Rida announced Feb. 6, 2014, that the hotel and conference center would include an indoor/outdoor Rocky Mountain recreational waterpark. The waterpark would make the Gaylord Rockies one of the first Four Diamond Hotels with a year-round waterpark in the region.
The general contractor on the project is Mortenson Construction, with architect, HKS, Inc.
"This will be a monumental project of 1.9 million square feet on 85 acres that will attract more than 450,000 net new visitors to the state each year," said Nunzio DeSantix, executive vice president for HKS.
