To cover most of the estimated $59.1 million cost of construction, the Vancouver Public Facilities District and the Vancouver Downtown Redevelopment Authority are recommending the city sell $50 million in bonds to the Seattle-based investment bank Piper Jaffray, which would market them to individual investors.

The two boards chose Piper Jaffray's package over one from Bank of America in part because it consumes only $4.2 million of the city's $ 43.7 million in non-voted-approved debt capacity while the Bank of America package tied up nearly all of it.

The district would pay back bondholders over 25 years using project revenues and a 2% hotel-motel tax and a sales tax credit approved in 1999 by the state legislature. The interest rate is expected to be about 5%.