The complicated deal for Colorado’s tax bond issuer to buy Estes Park’s historic Stanley Hotel, made famous by “The Shining” movie, is getting closer to the finish line.

The sale may close in a few weeks, a state economic official and a representative of the Royal Bank of Canada told the Colorado Economic Development Commission in a special meeting Wednesday morning.

Colorado Education and Cultural Facilities Authority (CECFA) approved $475 million in bonds last year to buy the hotel.

Earlier this year, the state’s plan to invest in the iconic property and attract more tourists to Colorado was on a “razor’s edge,” requiring significant concessions from investors and the Stanley Hotel’s current owner to move the sale forward.

Now, the leaders of the deal are “feeling good” about the transaction, Michael Persichitte, director of capital markets at RBC, said at the meeting.

“Our hope is to be able to get into the market and price the transaction yet this week, and then we would close approximately two weeks later,” Persichitte said.

In early April, RBC and CECFA began to publicly market more than $291 million in bonds to institutional investors.

But the U.S. treasury market has been very volatile since President Donald Trump took office and made shocks in the economy by placing heavy tariffs on China, Canada, Mexico and many more countries.

But some of that volatility is calming, Persichitte said, and more transactions requiring bonds have been coming back in the last few days — though market conditions are still being evaluated day-by-day.

The deal is dependent on the state of the U.S. Treasury, said Jeff Kraft, the deputy director of business funding and incentives for Colorado’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT).

“The Treasury rate has bounced around quite a bit recently, but the yield is trending lower. The bonds are trading higher,” Kraft said. “So that positively impacts the ability to sell this project.”

Tariffs have also become an additional risk for plans to expand the Stanley Hotel and Film Center.

The expansion would build a 60,000-square foot Stanley Film Center to attract cinephiles and filmmakers to Estes Park with a horror museum, amphitheater and events venue. Plans are also afoot to add more hotel rooms and renovate the main guest lobby.

But tariffs could raise the hotel’s construction costs “significantly,” according to bond documents, especially the extra tax on all steel and aluminum imports.

“Increases in construction costs could also result in insufficient funds to complete the Hotel Expansion and Renovation and/or the Stanley Events Center,” the documents warning investors said.

Steps taken to assure a potential big investor 

The EDC met Wednesday to vote on several changes to the Regional Tourism Act terms for funding the Stanley Film Center as one serious investor asked for more assurances.

The institutional investor is interested in buying the Series B bonds, which Kraft said was the “linchpin” of the sale.

“They’ve been asking various parties to this transaction to make changes to make the bonds more secure and more likely to be repaid,” Kraft said.

He explained the potential bond buyer strongly believes in the Regional Tourism Act revenue stream to be generated from the Stanley Film Center, which would have been at risk if it ever goes into bankruptcy and a new owner takes over.

In 2015, the EDC awarded funding through the Regional Tourism Act to the Stanley Hotel and a coalition of three other projects in northern Colorado that have since dropped out.

The hotel expansion project is qualified for up to $46 million in state sales tax increment financing over 30 years, according to the EDC.

Without the Regional Tourism Act, Kraft said the potential buyer doesn’t believe the deal would work.

The state is making a change to place a land use restrictive covenant on the Stanley Hotel and Film Center once the deal closes that would require any future owners of the building to operate under terms consistent with the Regional Tourism Act.

It’s “a great protection of the state’s interest,” said Che Sheehan, program manager of OEDIT’s business funding and incentives.

The EDC unanimously voted to implement a land covenant. The EDC also waived its right to approve a new owner if the bonds default.

In addition, the commissioners approved extending the final completion date again to be 6.5 years after the CEFTA bonds are issued, or 2031, with a provision to extend the date if there are significant construction delays of more than two weeks.

“It’s giving them more time to complete the project and ensuring they can go through bankruptcy but doesn’t change those core guardrails we put in place,” Kraft said.