Speedbowl Faces Foreclosure
Waterford Speedbowl is facing a foreclosure auction July 29, but the track’s owners are optimistic they will have finances in place to avoid the sale.
Terry Eames, who heads 1080 Hartford Road LLC, said an agreement to sell a portion of the property to Harvey Industries is in the final stages and plans for refinancing the Speedbowl are in place to avoid foreclosure by Washington Mutual Inc.
“We will be able to pay off the debt involved in front of the foreclosure in front of the auction,” Eames said. “Obviously we wanted to have this done before we reached the point of [the bank] scheduling the auction, but that didn’t happen. The court need moves along according to schedule with the foreclosure proceedings.”
Eames gave up operational control of the track after last season after having run it since his group’s purchase in September 2000. His company is now leasing the track to local businessman Jerry Robinson and track general manager Bill Roth.
“They have a multiyear lease, but they’re protected legally,” Eames said. “Should anything happen, they don’t wind up in a situation where they get shut down in the middle of a season.”
Eames entered into an option agreement to sell the Speedbowl property in 2005, but the deal fell through.
Eames announced in July 2006 an agreement to sell 8 to 10 acres of the 38.75-acre site to Harvey Industries, a manufacturer of household windows. Harvey Industries plans to build a distribution center on the property. The track, located on Route 85, is a third of a mile northwest of exit 77 off I-395.
Eames said at the time of the announcement that the deal would allow him to avoid foreclosure by covering half of its mortgage debt with Washington Mutual, which was reported as $1.6 million at the time.