By Cliff White
Staff Writer
A Gorham business owner representing a non-profit group dedicated to preserving the Gorham Sports Center as a year-round recreational facility bought the facility for $1,000,005 at a Feb. 14 foreclosure auction.
The winning bidder, Jon Smith, owner of the Gorham-based Great Falls Builders construction company, said he planned to work with the non-profit Southern Maine Community Recreation Center (SMCRC) to install insulation tiles to reduce the high cost of heating the center, which forced Camden National Bank to foreclose on the previous owner. Smith said he plans to lease the center to the SMCRC with an option to buy.
“Everyone in the SMCRC and in the community is dedicated to making this project happen,” Smith said. “There are enough people at the table who are fully vested that it will succeed.”
Smith said he, Camden National Bank and the SMCRC, were all interested in seeing the facility open as soon as is possible. Smith is giving the SMCRC, of which he is a former board member, no timeline for when he expects the organization to buy the property from him, SMCRC Board Member Adam Sturtevant said. The SMCRC is looking to take out a loan to begin lease payments to Smith in the hope of opening the center as soon as possible, and would also explore other options of fundraising including grants and corporate sponsorships, Sturtevant said.
Built in 2004, the 50,000-square-foot structure lies on 17 acres of land at 215 Narragansett Street and features a large artificial grass turf field. The center was home to youth and adult leagues in sports such as soccer, lacrosse, field hockey and football. Sturtevant said the reason his organization was formed was to ensure the Gorham Sports Center was conserved as a resource for local recreation enthusiasts.
“It’s invaluable to those who use the space as a place to play, especially in the months when weather or light issues make playing outside difficult or impossible,” Sturtevant said. “We could never afford to build another place like this, so we made the most of our opportunity to make this happen at the Gorham Sports Center.”
Sturtevant said the group was open to ideas as to new uses of the center, including a possible placement of additional fields on the land surrounding the complex. Its first priority, however, was to raise the $250,000 needed to install the insulation panels on the center’s roof.
“You look at the numbers – the cost of heating this place means money is bleeding right out the doors. It’s upwards of $100,000 through the winter,” Sturtevant said. “So whether we can raise the money for insulation through donations from the community or a secondary loan, it’s our first order of business.”
Sturtevant said community support has been overwhelming so far. The group has already raised more than $50,000 in pledged donations toward the insulation, and many supporters of the SMCRC’s bid to take over the center were present at the auction.
“The move to buy the center wasn’t sudden,” Sturtevant. “We wouldn’t have gone forward with buying it if we didn’t know we had a lot of support in the community. The support we’ve seen – both from people like Jon Smith and from the kids who play sports there and their families – gave us much more of a comfort level moving forward.”
Besides the eventual winners of the auction, the only other participant to bid on the property was Jim Grattelo, co-owner of the Portland Sports Complex. Gratello put in the opening bid of $500,000, then participated in a back-and-forth between Smith that lasted 32 rounds, ending in the final bid by Smith of $1,000,0005. Grattelo stopped bidding at $1 million.
“We were very interested in the property at the right price,” Grattelo said. “Of all the bidders, we were in the best position to run one of these facilities. We have the track record of turning one of these around – we did it with the Portland Sports Complex, and with two facilities the cost of everything becomes cheaper because of economy of scales. But when the price started getting up as high as it did it just didn’t make any sense for us.”
Grattelo estimated $300,000 in additional costs for the winning bidder, as the facility requires new ceiling fans and a new heating system in addition to new insulation.
Sturtevant said prior to the auction, representatives of the Portland Sports Complex, including Grattelo, had approached the SMCRC to discuss the possibility of the two groups working together.
“We told them our mission was not in congruence with working with a for-profit company, and we agreed not to work together,” Sturtevant said.
Sturtevant said his group was disappointed it didn’t get the center for a lesser amount, but said they expected Grattelo to bid up the price.
“He was clear with us – he told us he was coming in from the definitive standpoint of bidding up the pricing,” Sturtevant said. “Financially, it made sense for him to do that, and we understand that. It is what it is – it’s capitalism.”
Auctioneer Tom Saturley expressed his satisfaction with the proceedings of the auction and its ultimate winner.
“The community contingent was a group of very knowledgeable people,” Saturley said. “The many people from the community who showed up at the auction show what kind of support this project is going to have. Everyone in the community now can be comforted in knowing the Gorham Sport Center is going to be a part of their future.”