Hotel Tax Money Could Go Towards Opryland Repairs

Gaylord Entertainment wants the city of Nashville to help cover the cost of repairing the flood-damaged Opryland Resort and Conference Center. The company is asking for tax money that’s already been set aside for the hotel.

Three years ago, local officials agreed to give Gaylord a portion of hotel tax revenues to help finance a large-scale expansion of the Opryland conference facilities. The money has been collecting, but the expansion never happened. Now, Gaylord CEO Colin Reed wants to put that money towards repairs.

“We have spoken with the administration in this city and we have said look, what’s happened has been catastrophic, our business means so much to you folks in Davidson County, and what we would like you to do is redirect that to us to help restore the building rather than for a new expansion.”

The mayor’s office says the change is under consideration.

Under its original terms, the deal was worth about $1.5 million annually for Gaylord. Metro Council has final say over whether that money can be redirected. The total cost of repairing the hotel has been estimated at $225 million.

Emily Tseng also contributed to this report.