NASHVILLE, TN Gaylord Entertainment Co. obtained $200 million in interim financing from Merrill Lynch Mortgage Capital that will be used for construction on its Florida and Texas hotel projects and general corporate purposes, according to company officials.
Both the 1,400-room Opryland Hotel Florida and the 1,500-room Opryland Hotel Texas are currently under development. The Florida hotel project is on schedule to open on February 2, 2002. Groundbreaking for the Texas hotel was on June 7, 2000 and its opening is anticipated in the spring of 2003.
The financing is secured by the Opryland Hotel Nashville, a 2,884-room property that is a leading hotel in the meetings and conventions industry. Both the Florida and Texas hotels will have 400,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space in an effort to extend the success of the Opryland Hotel Nashville into new markets and to allow convention groups to rotate meetings among all Opryland-branded properties. (10/10/00)