Daytona Lease Details Emerge
NASCAR officials have signed a new lease that will keep racing here through the year 2054 and raise the rent they pay for the famed speedway, which is now about equivalent to the cost of a one-bedroom apartment. The racing circuit said the agreement completed Wednesday shows a commitment to stay and invest in Daytona, even though the city lost out to Charlotte, for the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Under the deal, Daytona International Speedway's annual rent payments for 447 acres of public land jumps from the $10,000 established in 1957 to help get the racetrack built. The average annual rent over the course of the new lease is $750,000 and the payment in 2054 will be $1,090,000, International Speedway Corp. spokesman Lenny Santiago said Thursday.
The old lease was to expire in 2032. Under that agreement, rent was supposed to increase to a flat rate of $20,000 from 2008-2032. Some critics of the Speedway's previous lease were still unhappy.
"I would say it would be a steal at $20 million a year, but more likely $30 (million)," New Smyrna Beach resident David Biddulph said. "This is a drop in the bucket."(USA Today)
NASCAR officials have signed a new lease that will keep racing here through the year 2054 and raise the rent they pay for the famed speedway, which is now about equivalent to the cost of a one-bedroom apartment. The racing circuit said the agreement completed Wednesday shows a commitment to stay and invest in Daytona, even though the city lost out to Charlotte, for the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Under the deal, Daytona International Speedway's annual rent payments for 447 acres of public land jumps from the $10,000 established in 1957 to help get the racetrack built. The average annual rent over the course of the new lease is $750,000 and the payment in 2054 will be $1,090,000, International Speedway Corp. spokesman Lenny Santiago said Thursday.
The old lease was to expire in 2032. Under that agreement, rent was supposed to increase to a flat rate of $20,000 from 2008-2032. Some critics of the Speedway's previous lease were still unhappy.
"I would say it would be a steal at $20 million a year, but more likely $30 (million)," New Smyrna Beach resident David Biddulph said. "This is a drop in the bucket."(USA Today)
