GlobeSt.com UPDATE: Opryland Hotel, Convention Center Win $210 Mil Funding Package

ORLANDO-Gaylord Entertainment Corp. of Nashville, TN received good news today with a loan of up to $210 million to finish construction of a total 1,760 rooms and a 178,000-sf convention center one mile from the main gate of Walt Disney World. The project is on track to open in February.

At an estimated total hard construction cost of $376 million, Gaylord’s venture is the most ambitious hospitality project undertaken in metro Orlando in the past five years, local lodging industry sources tell GlobeSt.com.

A New York lender consortium headed by Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown Inc., Salomon Smith Barney and CIBC World Markets is funding the construction. The loan facility matures in October 2004. It is priced at 337.5 basis points over the London Interbank Offered Rate.