Daily Record, The (Baltimore): Baltimore-based Cordish Co. asked to take casino buyout in Florida

The Seminole Tribe of Florida has approached The Cordish Co. with a request to buy out the Baltimore-based real estate developer's share of two hotel casinos in Florida.

The deal would allow the tribe to keep at least an extra $1 billion in profits over the next 10 years that otherwise would go to Cordish.

Both sides are coy about details of the proposed buyout, though a brief written statement by The Cordish Co. emphasizes the company's enormous financial and business risks in the enterprise.

Cordish and the tribe built and now manage two Seminole Hard Rock Hotels & Casinos in Tampa and Hollywood, Fla. The hotels, which opened in 2004, cost approximately $400 million to build, said tribe spokesman Gary Bitner.

Bitner said under the contract signed by Cordish and the tribe, Cordish receives roughly 30 percent of the profits from the hotels and casinos. However, the new hotels were apparently far more successful than either partner anticipated, and the tribe is now looking to negotiate a new deal that reflects the latest financial situation.

Cordish's share of the hotels could mean more than $1 billion in profits for the company over the next decade, Bitner said.

The Tribe believes the original deal with Cordish was fair, given that there was no way to predict, in advance, the huge success of the Seminole Hard Rock Hotels & Casinos, the tribe said in a statement. Based on the success of these projects, the Tribe believes that a buyout is now in the best economic interest of the Tribe and its members.

Beyond that, Bitner would only say that buyout negotiations are in progress.

Bitner did take issue with a Friday story in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel which he said contained incorrect speculation on the buyout discussions. He said, contrary to the story, it is not known at the moment which group would control which assets after a theoretical buyout.

We're not saying, and no one knows ultimately, specifically what the tribe might take over or might not take over, or what Cordish might or might not control, Bitner said.

Cordish would not comment directly on the possibility of a buyout. However, in a written response company spokeswoman Arlene Friedman cited Cordish's $100 million-plus worth of financial and business risks in the Florida hotels and its ongoing additional commitments to the Tribe.

She also praised the mutual efforts of the company and the tribe in its recent round of bond refinancing and the sale of $730 million in new bonds. The bond sale was one of the largest in the history of the gaming industry, according to a tribe release.