BANGOR – Ownership of the company that operates the historic Bangor Raceway at Bass Park changed hands late Tuesday afternoon when a Las Vegas-based company purchased 100 percent of Bangor Historic Track Inc.

“We’re exploring all different options,” said Hoolae Paoa, the chief executive officer of Capital One LLC, a Las Vegas real estate development company of Hawaiian businessman Shawn Scott. “We look forward to meeting with the city and exploring a redevelopment of the park area.”

Part of any redevelopment could include a new $5 million grandstand at the aging facility, Paoa said in a telephone interview from a Bangor law office where the parties signed the agreement.

Paoa also said the company was interested in working with the city to redevelop the entire Bass Park parcel, where city officials hope to build a new $30 million civic center and auditorium.

Both Paoa and Bangor Historic Track general manager Fred Nichols wold not disclose the purchase price Tuesday afternoon because not all of the company’s nine shareholders had signed off on the sale.

All had given their verbal approvals, however, Paoa said.

“Right now, I’ll just say, I’m happy,” said Nichols, who earlier acknowledged it was a seven-figure amount not conditional to the introduction of video lottery terminals, or slot machines, into the state.

The entire sale was expected to take three years, with the Las Vegas-based developer expected to buy only 49 percent of the company this year so the racetrack could retain its current license.

Instead the company opted to purchase the entire company and will go before the Maine Harness Racing Commission on Aug. 15 to obtain a new license, Paoa said.

“We see this as an emerging market,” Paoa said, noting that significant investments have saved harness racing tracks in several states.

Scott also owns Vernon Downs, a racetrack in Vernon, N.Y. He has a racing license in Louisiana and awaits one in New Mexico.

Scott is also the former owner of Delta Downs in Vinton, La. Scott bought Delta Downs in 1999 for $10 million and sold it two years later for a reported amount of $137 million after video lottery terminals were legalized in that parish.

The City Council recently extended Bangor Historical Track’s lease with Bangor Raceway through next year.

The new ownership and the potential for significant outside investment in the facility was exciting news for city officials, who were eager to take Paoa up on his offer for a meeting.

“I think we need to remain open to any opportunities that they might bring to the table and see what their intentions are,” said Jonathan Daniels, the city’s director of business and economic development. “It very well could be an exciting proposition.”