CARRABASSETT VALLEY – A project to build a $2.1 million family entertainment center that had stalled in April after $450,000 in federal grant funding was denied, is now a go after the decision was appealed and a lower amount was granted.
Developer Kerry Audet’s plans to build a new entertainment complex named Sugarbowl on the Carrabassett Valley Inn and Grill property along Route 27 needed the federal Economic Development Program Grant for the project to move forward.
Voters at the annual town meeting in March approved the town’s application for the federal grant totaling $450,000 to help fund the project. The plan calls for a 10-lane bowling alley, a golf simulator, game room, sports pub and restaurant.
But in May, Audet was notified the funding request had been rejected. He was shocked when the project was turned down for the funding since the Finance Authority of Maine had signed off on the loan to insure it and a bank loan was secured for the balance of the project’s costs presuming the grant funding would be approved.
After the rejection, he and Town Manager Dave Cota went back to the Maine Department of Economic Development, which administers the grant, to appeal the decision.
“We asked them to reconsider and a lower amount was requested,” Audet said. “They (grant administrators) came back with $200,000 and we asked for $300,000 and said it can’t go any lower and still complete the project.”
Last week the town was notified that $300,000 for the project was granted. The $150,000 shortfall in grant funding will be made up with investors contributing more towards the project and the general contractor will be asked “what if anything can be cut back on,” Audet said and he added, “nothing will essentially change except maybe some of the finishing work.”
Now that the grant funding has been approved, it will be a rush to get everything lined up and construction completed in order to meet the goal of opening Sugarbowl in December.
The most immediate needs are to meet the pre-construction requirements of the grant that include any state Department of Environmental Protection permitting and engineering work to prove the viability of the project at the site. Since The Carrabassett Valley Inn and Grill already exists on the site, Audet sees few problems getting the requirements met.
“We have to rush to get this phase completed,” he said. He hopes to close the purchase of the inn from owners Jeff and Mary Jacques on July 21. All of the inn’s kitchen equipment will be removed for possible reuse in the new center before a contractor levels the building. That’s expected to take two to three days. Audet hopes to hold a ground-breaking ceremony on Aug. 1.
The center’s construction will take four or five months. “The goal is to be open for Christmas,” Audet said. The center will provide 15 full-time jobs with more added as needed. Hours of operation will be 11 a.m. to after midnight and open everyday.
“It’s been a roller coaster for everyone. We’re very excited and the community’s been extremely supportive of it,” he said.
There are pros and cons to this.
A fresh new business in that location will be nice to see.
More jobs is good. More family oriented activities is good.
If it is to be a success, it will increase traffic through the S curves; an already dangerous stretch of road.