Lewiston now runs the civic center.
LEWISTON – Officials worked all day Friday to settle a $4.7 million deal giving the city control of the Central Maine Civic Center. By about 6 p.m., the deal was done.
“Officially, the city is running the place now,” City Administrator Jim Bennett said early Friday night.
Now that the legal wrangling is over, city leaders are planning community events at the civic center so area residents can come see what is being done with the building.
Finalizing the deal was no easy project.
City officials, Lewiston Maineiacs leaders, Quebec Major Junior Hockey League representatives and center owner Roger Theriault spent the day working on the deal.
“We’re dealing with 55 pages of legal documents here,” Bennett said. “We’ve signed agreements with the league, so their attorneys were involved. We’ve also tied up copyright issues, so we’ve had to deal with legal trademark issues. Basically, we have too many attorneys arguing over what words mean.”
According to drafts of the agreement, the city pays civic center owner Roger Theriault $250,000 over the next 10 years, gives the team a $200,000 loan and assumes another $4.2 million in debt.
The city also assumes responsibility for repairs and pays $321,853 in debt to the contractors who had finished work on the center.
The team will pay a base rent of $94,000 each year. That could increase to almost $180,000 per year if attendance exceeds 2,500 spectators per game. The team has the option to break the agreement if attendance doesn’t exceed 2,500 for 17 consecutive games per season.
The city agreed to take on the debt to control the center in January and keep the Maineiacs in the city. The team complained of tardy renovations and misfiring ticket selling computers and city officials were convinced the team was preparing to leave Lewiston.
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