WINTHROP – A bedspread maker whose name is synonymous with Lewiston’s industrial might is having unexpected trouble making the move 23 miles up the road to Winthrop.

Bates of Maine has been granted an extension of its current lease in Lewiston while it attempts to work out the kinks.

The company hoped to complete the purchase of the former Carleton Woolen Mills plant in Winthrop by late fall, but the title process has been complicated and Carleton owes nearly $195,000 in back taxes.

“It’s a hornet’s nest of a problem. It’s coming out significantly more expensive,” Marshall Masko, president and chief executive officer of Bates’ parent company, American Heritage Brands in Faribault, Minn.

Carleton Woolen Mills, which once employed more than 300 people, was the town’s second-largest taxpayer before it filed for bankruptcy protection and then shut down production on May 15.

Bates of Maine was supposed to have begin moving its operation to Winthrop by mid-November. The company was supposed to move out of the Lewiston-owned Bates Mill site in late January, but the city has extended the current lease.

Despite the delays and unexpected costs, American Heritage Brands continues to meet with lawyers from Fleet Bank and trustees of Carleton Woolen Mills, both of which have titles to part of the property.

“We’re still interested and we’re still talking, yes,” Masko said.

If Bates does indeed move to Winthrop, the town has a $75,000 grant to help the company with the moving its looms, said Winthrop Town Manager Cornell Knight.

Bates of Maine employs 125 people. Masko has said a small number of Carleton workers might be hired if it moves to Winthrop for positions like maintenance.