Finance authority sues owners of shuttered health club for repayment of $400,000+ loan

http://www.unionleader.com/Finance-authority-sues-owners-of-shuttered-health-club-for-repayment-of-loan

LACONIA — The New Hampshire Community Development Finance Authority earlier this week sued the owners of the now shuttered Laconia Athletic & Swim Club for repayment of a loan for more than $400,000.

Intended to help make the sprawling club at 827 N. Main St. more energy efficient, the loan is just the most recent debt being laid at the feet of Thomas Oakley and his wife, Lori, and their company, Main Street Investments.

In paperwork filed Feb. 22, in Belknap Superior Court, the CDFA said in March 18, 2012, it loaned the Oakleys a total of $457,842. Representing the NH CDFA, Attorney James LaMontagne wrote that the Oakleys stopped making repayment in June 2015.

The CDFA on Dec. 15 issued a demand to the Oakleys but, as of the filing date, “the defendants have failed and otherwise refused to pay the amounts due…” of $403,395.64, wrote LaMontagne.

LaMontagne asked the court to find Tom and Lori Oakley liable for up to $500,000 each and to attach the Oakleys’ residence on Beech Hill Road in Meredith.

The couple has 30 days to respond to the lawsuit, but had not filed one as of Wednesday.

The Oakleys owned and operated the LASC since 1991 when they bought the then Lakes Region YMCA, a 25,000 foot structure that featured one of the largest swimming pools north of Boston.

Well-known and loved in the Greater Laconia community, the Oakleys shut down the club last Thanksgiving Day and began looking for angel investors, be they private, public or nonprofit.

The club most recently had some 63 full- and part-time employees and some 1,100 members.

Tom Oakley has previously told the Union Leader that he has been unable to renegotiate the club’s debt although he did say that the LASC did put up a $50,000 bond with the New Hampshire Secretary of State to cover membership-fee repayments. He noted that because the club had realized it was facing a coming financial challenge, it accepted only month-to-month, rather than annual renewals.

Oakley said 2012 had been a good year for the LASC, citing strong revenues as well as the CDFA loan. But as time went on, Oakley said he learned that the loan would not cover the work on the pool’s air-handling system.

Because its first lien holder had gone bankrupt and the club’s mortgage was then being held by the FDIC, the LASC had to obtain financing for the pool on what Oakley described as unfavorable terms. He added that closing the pool last winter while the improvements were done was not well received by all members. – See more at: http://www.unionleader.com/Finance-authority-sues-owners-of-shuttered-health-club-for-repayment-of-loan#sthash.pbsgiWIQ.dpuf