The three-year-old plan to overhaul Pimlico Race Course and upgrade Laurel Park sits in limbo as stakeholders meet almost daily to “restructure, reconfigure and reimagine” how to make it work.
Alan M. Rifkin, attorney for the Stronach Group that operates Pimlico and Laurel Park under the Maryland Jockey Club umbrella, said the deal to revamp the tracks passed by the General Assembly in 2020 is today so uncertain that no legal documents have been signed or finalized. Funding is the biggest obstacle, with officials pondering how to cover the rising construction cost of redeveloping the aging Pimlico Race Course while upgrading Laurel Park to become a year-round racing center.
Rifkin blames the funding gap in part on a recent spate of interest rate hikes that so far have whittled $160 million from the legislature’s authorized $375 million bonding authority.
“When the bond interest rates rise, the proceeds go down and we pay bond holders more money in sales and interest costs,” Rifkin said, of the market whiplash. “When we did the financial projections in 2020, the bond rate for 30-year, triple tax free state-issued bonds was 2.4%. Today it’s in excess of 5% and the net effect of that has been substantial.”
Click here to read the rest of the article written by William F. Zorzi over at Maryland Matters
