Work isn’t done;

Maineiacs upset
The city might get stuck with the bill.
By Kathryn Skelton
Staff Writer

LEWISTON – The city may be on the hook for the $2 million it used to back construction at the Central Maine Civic Center and entice the Maineiacs to town.

Improvements at the ice hockey rink are months overdue and hundreds of thousands over budget, according to City Administrator Jim Bennett.

The Maineiacs aren’t happy. Office space and a pro shop promised for September aren’t done. Bathrooms aren’t quite up to snuff. Box office hours have been erratic and, sometimes, the system spits out two tickets for the same seat.

“The team has not threatened to leave in any kind of formal way,” Bennett said Thursday. However, “I think we’re absolutely naive to think that option’s not on the table.”

Maineiacs owner Mark Just echoed Bennett’s claim that the team wants to stay.

“I haven’t considered (moving) at all,” Just said at Thursday’s game. “Things can always be worked out, and I hope they can here as well.”

Last winter the city approved a $2 million loan guarantee to arena owner Roger Theriault after a franchise from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League expressed interest in moving to Lewiston. The caveat: If the rundown civic center got cleaned up.

“We only had 30 to 45 days to put all that stuff together,” Bennett said. “That was the only way we could guarantee we’d get the team. Somebody needed to sort of step up to the plate.”

The plan: Theriault would use that money to renovate the building then approach a traditional bank for a $2 million loan and start payments on it, leaving the city in the clear.

But that $2 million has been spent and the arena isn’t finished. Bennett estimated another $700,000 to $800,000 needs to be spent to finish the project.

The city had nearly lined up a lender for a half-million dollars, filling some of that gap, but it balked when the construction problems came to light.

“There’s not any more money being lent out by financial institutions,” Bennett said. Also: “It appears there are vendors out there who are owed money.”

Roger Theriault, owner of Central Maine Civic Center, said Thursday the reason things are so far behind is, in part, the strict time constraints in which the work had to be completed.

“We were put on an extremely fast track here,” Theriault said. “These renovations would normally take about 18 months, and we had five or six. Now, while we’re in season, it’s even more difficult because of everything happening around the rink.”

Theriault’s brother, Richard, is the construction project manager. He declined comment, citing ongoing negotiations.

The city is now in a position of trying to protect its $2 million and working with Theriault and the Maineiacs, whose relationship Bennett described as “strained.”

He said they’ve been talking intensely for about three weeks.

On the table: Figuring out how to handle the additional construction charges and revamping the 10-year lease between the arena owner and the team. The team profits off a percentage of ticket and pro-shop sales – hampered by the lagging construction – and wasn’t able to hire marketing specialists to drum up more interest in the team, and more sales, because it literally didn’t have a place to put them, Bennett said.

Just also chimed in on his staff’s ability to work at the arena.

“I have guys here that aren’t doing what they are supposed to be doing because they are busy helping out in getting the building ready,” Just said. “Our players are acting as carpenters and our staff was hanging signs when what they needed to be doing was helping to run the team itself.

“Obviously, if we were wrong, the city would have told us so,” Just added. “Our intent is to be here for a long time, to build the team up and build for the future.”

The last resort, Bennett said, would be having the city manage or own the arena.

In hindsight, he would have negotiated for more control over the construction project and might have picked different contractors and engineers. “We weren’t clerk of the works,” he said.

Theriault also owes the city $150,000 and the Lewiston-Auburn Economic Growth Council $73,000 in other improvement loans.

Matt McKnight, vice president of the Maineiacs, said the team is just looking for the facility to be up to the level promised in their lease.

“Our focus 100 percent is here in the city of Lewiston. We’re doing everything we can to make sure we’re here long-term,” he said. “All we are basically doing is trying to ensure … they deliver what we signed on paper.”

The 24-player team is half-way through it’s regular season, with a record of 18-22-1. According to league rules it would have to announce intentions to play elsewhere by Jan. 31 – the same deadline it was up against last year when the move to Lewiston was hastily pulled together.

– Staff writer Justin Pelletier contributed to this report.