The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday night to approve a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the County and Krause Sports and Entertainment. That’s the developer for The Gathering at South Forsyth, a proposed $2 billion plus entertainment hub and arena which the developers hope becomes home to a National Hockey League (NHL) team
The MOU, a binding agreement between the County and the development group allowing for the developer to proceed with next steps, includes the following agreed points, among others:
- The developer will privately finance the mixed-use development, including the commercial office and retail, hotel, multifamily and single-family homes, a 1.2-mile connection on the Big Creek Greenway, a Fire Station and Sheriff’s Office precinct.
- The County will invest $225 million (only upon the NHL awarding a franchise), through the Forsyth County Development Authority, to be funded via bond with debt paid via a Tax Allocation District (TAD), or other district specific sources, that have boundaries limited to the development property.
- The County will own the arena, and the arena operator will maintain the facility for the life of the lease.
- The County and Forsyth County Board of Education will receive all sales tax generated from the property annually (estimated by an Ernst & Young Fiscal and Economic Impact Analysis to be $8 million/year).
EARLIER STORY (POSTED AT 11:00 TUESDAY NIGHT):
Plans to try to land a National Hockey League (NHL) franchise in Forsyth County took a major leap forward Tuesday night when the county commission approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the developers of a two-billion-dollar entertainment complex in the city. The development will include an arena which a hockey team would call home.
The vote was 4-1 after a four-hour hearing.
The MOU calls for the county to commit millions of dollars to the project to be paid back over a 20-year period.