A line of companies are waiting to collect almost $12 million in unpaid bills when a new deal to complete the downtown baseball stadium comes together later this month, city officials said.
The city on Friday released a list of all the subcontractors who are owed money on the unfinished stadium project, plus the amounts that they are owed.
Leading the list is general contractor Samet Corp., which is owed almost $4.4 million. Charles Hutchings, Samet's senior project manager, said that doesn't tell the whole story: Samet paid about $2 million of that money to keep subcontractors working when no money was coming to Samet from the developers.
"Over the course of the year, Samet has paid a lot of money to keep subs current and keep them fiscally sound," Hutchings said.
More than 40 subcontractors on the project are owed about $5.7 million, not including the money of which Hutchings spoke, city officials said.
In addition to the "hard" costs directly related to construction that total $10.1 million, there are "soft" costs that total $1.7 million.
These include fees and other expenses owed by Sports Menagerie Stadium, one of the companies of Billy Prim, the majority owner of the Winston-Salem Dash. They also include $750,000 to pay costs associated with the closing of the deal and similar expenses.
Although the stadium's groundbreaking was in October 2007, work on the 5,500-seat stadium slowed dramatically at the beginning of this year and stopped completely in April when the gates were locked.
Contractors went unpaid while Prim -- negotiating a buyout of a business partner -- sought to refinance the deal.
The city, which had already paid $12 million toward the project, is now committing another $12.7 million to relaunch the stalled stadium work. That money is coming in addition to a $15 million loan to the developers by a group of banks, along with additional money from Prim's investor group and other funds.
The city will use $8 million of its new investment to buy the land under the stadium, with the remaining $4.7 million designated to pay hard construction costs.
If paid out at once, the city's $4.7 million would disappear at the closing to help satisfy the unpaid bills of contractors and subcontractors. The city would like to spread out its payments over time, but the banks would like the city to pay its share at closing. That's one of the items still being negotiated, city officials said.
Hutchings said that Samet's fee for the project amounts to about $408,000 of the money it is owed.
In addition to reimbursing itself for the money advanced to contractors, Hutchings said, Samet needs money for its own costs in running the project.
Hutchings said that Samet officials bear no ill will toward Prim, whom they do not blame for the financial difficulties that stalled the work.
"The developer has been trying to get the money," Hutchings said. "It is not any fault of his. We have helped the subs and the subs have helped us -- very few of them have filed a lien. A lot of that has to do with their working relationship with Samet."
Subcontractor Billy Ray Joyce, whose company, Joyce Painting LLC, filed a lien in May claiming about $88,000 for labor and materials, said that Samet "helped me catch my supply bills up."
"I'm glad it is getting settled because there are a lot of people owed money including myself," Joyce said.
City Manager Lee Garrity said it could still take a couple of weeks or so for all the legal and financial details to be worked out and for the new stadium deal to close.
The city named an 11-member committee last week to review the stadium construction expenses and approve city payouts. The committee will continue its work even after the stadium is finished, monitoring finances and making reports to the city.
Garrity said it will be "good to get the project moving again."
"Several hundred employees will be able to go back to work and get some progress on the stadium," Garrity said.
■ Wesley Young can be reached at 727-7369 or at wyoung@wsjournal.com
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