Judge Sets October 18 Auction Date For Waterford Speedbowl Foreclosure Matter

As had been expected, Judge Emmet Cosgrove on Friday morning set an October 18 foreclosure auction date for the Waterford Speedbowl.

Speedbowl-nightThe two sides had essentially agreed upon the date in a court appearance Monday, though Cosgrove gave the parties until Friday to resolve any issues surrounding stipulations involving the setting of the date.

The decision gives track owner Terry Eames a few more months to search out alternative financing to keep the track running under his ownership, or a possibly find a buyer for the facility.

Rocco Arbitell, who moved to have the foreclosure action taken, had been expecting a foreclosure date to be set since last October. Arbitell is part of a group of creditors still owed money from a debt reorganization plan arranged through state bankruptcy court.

Arbitell’s lawyer argued to have an April 12 foreclosure auction sale date set on the property.

Arbitell sad he had no comments concerning the situation after court on Friday. Eames owes about $1 million to Arbitell and Peter Borelli and about another $1 million to the other creditors involved. The track is valued at just over $3 million.

The Oct. 18 auction date is contingent upon the stipulation the track management meet the demands of town officials for repairs to track grandstands. The agreement also means Eames and his management team has to agree to some type of financial oversight for the 2014 racing season.

The track is scheduled to open March 29-30.

Arbitell and the rest of the creditors moved to have foreclosure action retaken against the Speedbowl ownership and that action began in March. The State of Connecticut Judicial Branch lists the plaintiffs in the action as Rocco Arbitell, Borelli and the Committee of Sale.

In July 2007, Arbitell, a Southbury businessman and local racing supporter, along with his business associate Borrelli, stepped in to offer Eames and his ownership group, 1080 Hartford Road LLC, financing to avoid a foreclosure action being taken then by former mortgage holder Washington Mutual Bank.

The deal with Arbitell was announced a day before the track’s auction date for a foreclosure in 2007.

In May 2008 Arbitell brought his own foreclosure action against the ownership group after former track operator Jerry Robinson failed to pay the Speedbowl’s property taxes.

Facing another pending foreclosure auction, Eames and 1080 Hartford Road LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October 2009. A debt reorganization plan was accepted by bankruptcy court in January 2012 and the ownership cleared bankruptcy not long after that.

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