LEWISTON — Backers of a casino in the Bates Mill building No. 5 made good on their option agreement Monday, giving the city a $10,000 check.
Stavros Mendros, manager of the Great Falls Recreation and Redevelopment LLC, said the group had hoped to schedule a press conference when they dropped off the check, the second in a series of payments to secure the building for a possible casino.
“We wanted to have a little ceremony on Friday, but we postponed that because of the storm,” Mendros said. “And then the weather was as bad (Monday) as it was on Friday, so we just made the payment.”
Finance Director Heather Hunter confirmed that the group had made the payment.
Voters in Lewiston approved an $150,000 agreement in June giving the casino group the option to purchase the Bates Mill building No. 5 for fair market value. The group made its first $10,000 payment to the city in June and the second $10,000 payment Monday. A $30,000 payment would be due July 31 and a final $100,000 payment would be due Dec. 31, 2011, nearly two months after the matter goes before voters statewide.
Mendros’ group collected enough signatures to get the matter on the November ballot. It’s currently being reviewed by legislators, and they can choose to approve the casino without putting it out to a vote.
Mendros said he hopes that happens.
“We’re prepared to go to a vote, if that happens, but we hope that legislators will understand that the people of Maine voted to approve casinos,” Mendros said.
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