Joey Garrison

USA Today Network - Tennessee

Ryman Hospitality’s plans for a new water park complex at its Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center took a significant step forward Tuesday with the Metro Council giving preliminary approval of an incentive package for the company valued at an estimated $13.8 million.

The council voted 33-3 on a key second of three votes to approve a plan to keep Opryland’s property tax payments flat through 2025 after this year’s reappraisal. In doing so, Metro would forfeit about $1.63 million in expected annual property taxes the city would typically collect from the water park.

The deal also would extend $1 million in annual hotel-tax rebates that Ryman began receiving from Metro after the city's devastating 2010 flood by six years to 2031. In addition, Ryman is to 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.

Mayor Megan Barry’s administration orchestrated the agreement before the company’s announcement last month of a new 217,000-square-foot water park called SoundWaves that Ryman plans 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.

Council members John Cooper, Colby Sledge and Jim Shulman were the lone no votes Tuesday. Sledge said it would have been "difficult for me to look my residents in the eye" if he had approved a property tax freeze for Ryman while many of his constituents' taxes are set to balloon after the reappraisal.

During a committee meeting earlier Tuesday, Shulman and Councilman Nick Leonardo questioned the logic of awarding city incentives for a project that most of their constituents won't be able to visit. Leonardo asked whether Ryman would be willing to open SoundWaves to the public for a day or two each year.

Colin Reed, Ryman's CEO and chairman, said such a promotion would be "very impractical and very difficult," adding that Nashville already has a public water park, Nashville Shores. He 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.

Ryman to pour $90M into Opryland water park

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

"The consumer of 10 years ago would come and spend 24 hours at best. Now folks are coming and wanting to spend three, four, five days. They want something that is more than just beer and music. They want other entertainment options."

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.

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

Shulman asked whether Metro is establishing a "dangerous precedent" by giving incentives to a private water park that benefits only hotel guests.

"When is it going to stop?"

Matt Wiltshire, the mayor's office director of community development, said the administration evaluates each deal on a case-by-case basis on merits and looks to ensure there's a return for taxpayers. He disputed the premise that Nashvillians won't benefit from the water park, pointing to new jobs and tax revenues that it would generate.

"I hope it never stops because it stops when development stops in the city," Wiltshire said.

Multiple council members, led by Angie Henderson Cooper, have sought to use negotiations with Ryman to jump-start construction of a long-discussed Opryland Greenway connector, which would connect the Cumberland River Pedestrian Bridge and the Opryland footprint.

Reed has described the creation of the walkway a complex process due to Ryman's flood wall. In a letter to the council Tuesday, he committed to providing the necessary easements and working with architects to make the project a reality.

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.