The largest sports venue in Palm Beach County is closer to groundbreaking after Florida Atlantic University’s board of trustees unanimously approved a plan Wednesday to seek $44.6 million in financing for a football stadium.

The final hurdle for approval for the 30,000-seat stadium on the public university’s Boca Raton campus is garnering support from the State University System of Florida’s Board of Governors. If approved, the FAU Owls’ new home should be ready by about October 2011.

The construction project would employ 200 people and generate about 1,000 jobs overall while work is underway, said David Kian, FAU senior VP for strategic relations and general counsel.

“To fully grow the football program and to attract the student life benefits of that program, we need to move it on campus,” he said. “We are expecting there will be additional realignment of football conferences. By having a 30,000-seat stadium on this campus, we will position ourselves to be competitive.”

Kian projected that annual ticket sales would increase 25 percent, or about 3,500 extra seats, at the new stadium versus what FAU has attracted at Fort Lauderdale’s Lockhart Stadium. He said that’s a conservative estimate, as most new college football stadiums see a much larger sales boost.

“We believe that increase is reasonable, and that is what you will have to hold us accountable for,” he said.

The stadium would include a team store, 1,076 premium club seats, 4,448 priority club seats, 16 air-conditioned boxes and 20 luxury suites for lease. Since the southern end zone would have palms trees at both corners, FAU plans to trademark the phrase “Between the Palms” to refer to scoring there.

To finance the project, FAU expects to secure a $44.6 million loan with Regions Bank. The loan would apply for acceptance as a Build America Bond, which has the federal government pay 35 percent of the interest costs. That program is part of last year’s stimulus bill.

Kian said the Build America Bond program was crucial for the project because it lowered the interest rate. The project could not seek bond financing because it was too new.

The debt is being issued by FAU Finance Corp., a direct-support organization formed by the university. It would repay the loan through stadium revenue, student athletic fees, the sale of naming rights, fundraising and at least $1 million in funds annually from playing away games.

The lender would not have the right to seize the property or go after the university to collect on the loan, Kian said. Its only recourse for collections is taking the operating revenue of FAU Finance.

One risk, Kian said, is that Regions Bank would have the right to call for full payment of the loan after seven years. By that time, chances are that interest rates won’t be as low as they are today, he said. While he believes the stadium revenue can handle an interest rate as high as 12 percent and still make debt service, Kian said he is working on a backup plan.

Through a $1 million annual fundraising campaign and the retention of the stadium’s operating income, he said FAU could reduce the outstanding debt on the stadium to $30 million in seven years. At that point, the university could probably refinance it as a bond, Kian added.

The total projected cost of the stadium is $63.5 million – with $44.5 million from the loan and the rest from FAU and its fundraising foundation.

BOCA RATON, Fla. – June 28, 2010 – Real estate broker Jess Acevedo expected a good month in June with the first-time homebuyer credit about to expire, but now 14 deals he carefully shepherded to closing are on hold because Congress has failed to reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program.

Among them is a Boca Raton couple with three children who were set to close Friday on a four-bedroom, two-story foreclosure. Now they are stuck in limbo, worried that their tax-credit window is closing, Acevedo said.

“They’re all frustrated,” he said.

With hurricane season upon us, it could not be a worse time of year for Floridians to be without flood insurance.

The National Association of Realtors estimates that for each day Congress delays, 1,400 sales are tied up. In Florida, it’s affecting about 175 deals a day.

The flood insurance program expired May 31. Since then, some lenders have been willing to accept binders, or promises, to write flood insurance policies as soon as Congress reauthorizes the program. But others are refusing to allow deals to go through without insurance.

U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, who voted to reauthorize the program, said Congress’ delay has brought an already weak real estate market to a “total standstill.”

“To say that Florida’s economy is in a fragile state would be an understatement,” he said. “In this uniquely perilous economy, if someone is prepared to buy a new home, they should be able to buy it.”

The halt in flood insurance isn’t affecting only homebuyers.

People living in flood zones whose insurance has expired also are beginning to panic.

“It’s hurricane season, and millions of people are going to be affected if there’s a big hurricane,” said Roger Bash of Palm Beach Gardens.

Bash paid to have his insurance renewed more than a month ago. Last week he got a letter from Allstate saying the company could not write a new policy. All he can think about are the Louisiana residents caught without flood insurance when Hurricane Katrina roared in.

He wonders how Congress could allow so many citizens to be at risk.

Between September 2003 and September 2004, when four hurricanes slammed the state, Florida residents filed 21,758 flood insurance claims.

The National Flood Insurance Program was jammed into a controversial $110 billion jobs package designed to extend unemployment benefits. House members stripped the insurance provision into a separate bill and passed it this week. But senators, who shot down the jobs bill, left for the weekend without taking up the insurance bill.

Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty has called Congress’ delay “irresponsible.”

Bill Richardson, president-elect of the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches, is one of the lucky ones who said his business hasn’t slowed because of the lack of flood insurance. He’s seen plenty of commercial real estate deals go through with a binder.

About 1,000 deals slated to close in June in Palm Beach County will need flood insurance or a binder, Richardson said.

And if Congress doesn’t act soon, he expects more lenders could balk and refuse to accept binders.

“There are a lot of deals on the table,” he said.

Copyright © 2010 The Palm Beach Post, Fla., Laura Green. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.