LEWISTON – The owner of the Central Maine Civic Center said Friday he’s not over-budget on the project to fix up the arena and hasn’t missed contracted deadlines.

The Maineiacs team owner said he’s here to stay and doesn’t understand how such rumors got started.

And the city administrator negotiating behind the scenes said the team may indeed decide next week to leave town.

The mixed rhetoric added to the confusion swirling around the Quebec Major Junior Hockey franchise and what’s going to happen if CMCC owner Roger Theriault can’t find money to finish fixing the arena.

The city agreed to a $2 million loan guarantee last winter, giving Theriault time to make improvements then seek his own bank financing once the work was done. Theriault said early on improvements were pegged to cost $2.5 million, but financing for that additional half-million hasn’t been secured and $323,000 extra has already been spent.

“The problem we had,” he said, “was that the work seems to have been done backwards. Instead of giving us the project and asking us to estimate costs, we got a budget and were told to fit everything to that budget.”

Theriault said he nearly had that extra money but days before loan approval the city sent him a “letter of default” he had to share with the bank. They were no longer interested in loaning the money.

For his part, Theriault said he has not defaulted on his 10-year lease with the team. At the same time, he struck a defeated note: “Right now, there are several negotiations happening and a few things in the works for the weeks to come. It could go either way. It would have been my preference to stay.”

City Administrator Jim Bennett said he’s been talking intensely with Theriault and the Maineiacs for three weeks. The team came to him initially upset and claiming the facility wasn’t in the shape agreed upon with Theriault. The box office has erratic hours. There’s peeling paint on the ceiling. The pro-shop is in a temporary space.

He said he hoped to negotiate a resolution over the weekend and present something to the public Monday, then to the City Council in a closed-door session on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.

“The bottom line is that Tuesday is sort of drop dead night,” Bennett said. “If we haven’t got a done deal done by Tuesday there’s a strong possibility the team leaves by the end of the season.”

The team faces a Jan. 31 deadline, according to league rules, to announce any venue change for the coming season. “They’ve got to make a decision literally within the next couple of days,” Bennett said. “This is my opinion: they aren’t going to stay here if we don’t have resolution to some of the things they need to be done.”

He’s already stated the option of last resort: buying the arena with taxpayer money. Lewiston’s city budget is $85 million. A flat $2 million increase would add $1.85 or so to the mill rate, Bennett said.

“If there was an agreement between the city and me they will have to vote on it Tuesday. Will there be? That’s in Jim Bennett’s hands right now,” Theriault said. “I know what will keep the team here, Jim knows what will keep the team here, I can’t do it. The city will.”

Mark Just, majority owner of the Maineiacs, said he had “every confidence that our desires for the building, one way or another, and by whomever, will be met.”

He added: “My question is, why would we go through all of this trouble with the city about the renovations and the building if we were planning on moving the team? Yes, we’ve had some unfortunate problems with the building, but we’re working with the city to rectify those problems.”

Despite the controversy, Theriault said he’s still proud of the team’s progress so far. He’s owned the hockey rink since 1989.

“I think that this team is the best brand of hockey people in the town will ever see,” he said. “Whatever happens, this community should in fact embrace this team. The attendance has started to climb recently, the merchandise sales are great, and advertising has been excellent.”

If the team were to move, St. John, New Brunswick, has been named a potential destination by media, but so far, that rumor has been unsubstantiated. St. John was jilted last season in favor of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, and Lewiston when two Quebec Major Junior Hockey League teams relocated.

jpelletier@sunjournal.com

kskelton@sunjournal.com

Copy the Story Link