Negotiators fine-tuning racino talks

BANGOR – A Pennsylvania-based gaming and racing company’s plans for a $70 million-plus racino across Main Street from Bass Park remain on course, according to several key players.

The gambling complex, which would house 1,500 slot machines, would replace the company’s temporary facility, which opened in November in the former Miller’s restaurant on Main Street.

But first the company must get through a complex set of negotiations with two Main Street hotel owners, some of their tenants and the city.

While negotiations are under way, business is booming at Hollywood Slots at Bangor, with gross revenue increasing almost $7 million from February to March, according to the Maine Gambling Control Board. The gain stems from a number of factors, a Hollywood Slots official said Thursday.

The racino deal, which will involve Penn National buying property on Main Street and conveying it to the city, has been the subject of numerous closed-door negotiating meetings conducted by the City Council over the past several months.

Though the parties involved had hoped to close the deal by the end of last year, negotiations have taken longer than expected.

“Negotiations are probably going slower than we anticipated, but we’re making decent progress, given the size of the transaction and the fact that it’s a complicated, multiparty transaction,” Portland attorney Christopher Howard, representing the Pennsylvania-based company in the negotiations, said Thursday.

City Solicitor Norman Heitmann agreed.

“The deal involves many people, obviously,” Heitmann said. “I know Penn is continuing to work with the other parties.

“In terms of substantive issues [including terms and money], it appears that those issues have been resolved,” he said. The parties now are fine-tuning.

“We received the latest revisions from them late Tuesday,” Heitmann said.

Heitmann, City Manager Edward Barrett and other key staff now are reviewing the latest contract language changes.

City councilors will be briefed during an executive session before their regular meeting Monday night, Heitmann said.

Five months after its opening, attendance continues to be strong at Hollywood Slots. The temporary gaming parlor, which has 475 slot machines, is just up Main Street from the proposed home of the company’s permanent facility, called the Riverside Block in city documents.

The parking lot at the Main Street slots parlor is consistently full, and the overflow parking area at Bass Park is pressed into service several times a week.

“We are seeing our business continuing to build,” General Manager Jon Johnson said Thursday.

The monthly gross wager continues to grow, too. Beginning at $28.5 million last November, the total wager in March amounted to $45.8 million, according to the latest financial report from the Maine Gambling Control Board.

The handle has grown at a rate of about $3 million a month, with the biggest jump – just shy of $7 million – posted in March.

As host city and as one of numerous slots beneficiaries set out by state law, the city of Bangor’s share of the proceeds reached $459,131 for the whole period to date, according to information provided by city Finance Director Debbie Cyr.

“I think it’s because of a combination of several things,” Johnson said, among them mild weather, many repeat visitors and the fact that March is a longer month than February.

“Another reason, at least in our minds, is that we’re getting very positive word of mouth,” the facility manager said. “People are pleased with our product, and they are pleased with our promotions.”

The bulk of the land Penn National is arranging to buy is occupied by the Holiday Inn-Civic Center, owned by Mahaney Properties, now owned by Kevin Mahaney, son of the late Bangor businessman Larry Mahaney, who died in February.

Larry Mahaney had negotiated an option on the adjacent Main Street Inn, but the option expired March 31 and Penn Nation now is dealing directly with its owner, Chiou Lin of Hampden.

The hotel properties, across the street from Bass Park and Bangor Raceway, are among the few commercially zoned properties both large enough to accommodate Penn’s proposed 150,000-square-foot permanent facility with an attached multilevel parking garage and within the 2,000-foot radius of Bangor Raceway allowed by state law.

Once the deal goes through, the inns and two houses will be razed to make way for Penn’s project.

Penn also has been working to resolve issues with some of Mahaney’s tenants, Remax Advantage, a real estate firm, and Pella Windows and Doors, corporate spokesman Eric Schippers said in a recent interview.

Heitmann said the city has approached the two tenants to see if the city might be able to help with relocation.