Dover sells Nashville track

Nashville

Dover Motorsports Inc. has entered into an agreement to sell its Nashville Superspeedway facility to an entity owned by Panattoni Development Company, an international commercial real estate development company specializing in industrial, office and build-to-suit projects.

Under the terms of the agreement, Dover Motorsports and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Nashville Speedway U.S.A. Inc., will sell the Nashville Superspeedway facility along with some related equipment and assets for $27.5 million in cash and the assumption by the purchaser of obligations of Dover Motorsports under certain Variable Rate Tax Exempt Infrastructure Revenue Bonds.

The Bonds are the obligation of the Sports Authority of the County of Wilson, Tenn., and were issued by the Sports Authority in 1999 in order to build certain infrastructure improvements benefiting the speedway. Debt service on the Bonds, which have a remaining principal balance of $17,200,000, is payable from property and sales taxes generated by the facility.

Principal and interest on the Bonds are secured by a letter of credit provided by Dover Motorsports which will be replaced by a letter of credit provided by the purchaser.

Closing is subject to customary due diligence and closing conditions, including zoning approvals, and is anticipated to take place in the first quarter of 2017.

Nashville Superspeedway was active from 2001 through 2011. The 1.333-mile concrete oval hosted a number of different racing series, including the Verizon IndyCar Series, NASCAR XFINITY Series, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and ARCA Racing Series.

The last race at Nashville, a NASCAR XFINITY Series event, was held on July 21, 2011 and was won by Carl Edwards. The track closed following the conclusion of the 2011 season and has not been active since. Since closing the track has hosted private events, including testing.

In 2014 Dover Motorsports agreed to sell the track to NeXovation Inc. for $27 million, but the sale never materialized when NeXovation failed to make payments.