MATT GRISWOLD

Herald Staff Writer

MJ Squared ready to own ice rink, improve its finances

ELLENTON - With J.P. Igloo set for a courthouse sale three weeks from today and MJ Squared poised to assume ownership, officials from the investment group reaffirmed Wednesday that they intend to keep the ice rink open for the community. MJ Squared's status as the mortgage note holder prevents it from entering into any contracts or discussing in detail its plans, but MJ Squared principal Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, said the group - should it take control of the Igloo - will work to better the financially struggling facility. "It can be a wonderful asset," Bennett said. MJ Squared is by far the Igloo's largest creditor, owed more than $5.5 million by current Igloo management. Circuit Judge Marc Gilner, in a foreclosure proceeding Monday, scheduled a courthouse sale of the business, J.P. Igloo Ice & Inline Sports Complex, for Sept. 22. Because MJ Squared already has more than $5.5 million in credit to bid on the ice rink, any buyer interested in J.P. Igloo would have to pay more than MJ Squared's credit bid to the court that same day - enough to pay off all of the other creditors. Among those creditors is former owner Jimmy Perez, owed about $1.5 million, and well over $1 million to its 100 or so other creditors, including unpaid taxes to the county, state and Internal Revenue Service.

Bennett isn't convinced the sale will take place on Sept. 22. "I also believe there will be another attempt at some legal maneuver," he said. "There's always the chance someone could try something." Don Schutz, Perez's attorney, indicated that the James Perez Trust might file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy - a move that would hold up the scheduled sale. Schutz said a warning by bankruptcy Judge Alexander Paskay that Igloo-related entities not file for Chapter 11 doesn't apply to Perez. "I have the right to file bankruptcy," he said. "There's a possibility I might do that."

But nothing is set in stone. Schutz is going to wait to see what Igloo co-owners Greg Richard and Frank Scarpaci do next. He said he has seen documents that indicate the Igloo might have secured the financing to properly reorganize. "They seem to think they got this thing together," he said. "I think they've got a reasonable shot. "We'll just have to wait and see what they do."

Bankruptcy attorney Gilbert Smith, with Bradenton law firm Hamrick, Perrey, Quinlan & Smith, said it would be unusual for a creditor to file a bankruptcy to prevent another creditor from foreclosing. "If he did it, it would only be for a delay," Smith said.

Bennett provided a sneak peek at the future of the Igloo should MJ Squared take control. A number of ice rink operators, as well as private schools like Bradenton Academy, have approached MJ Squared about joining the Igloo. "We would expect that after the sale, they will reapproach us," he said. "At this stage of the game, we have nothing to sell or bargain with." Bennett also mentioned groups interested in starting a charter school program at the rink. Marcia Lynn, the mother of a former student and hockey player at J.P. Igloo, filed a charter school proposal in Manatee County this month and plans to file a similar proposal in Sarasota County today. The school, Lynn said, would be called The Academy of Sports and Technology, operate as a nonprofit organization, and allow students to skate and go to school for free. "It's a progressive plan," Lynn said. A charter would mean that Manatee County would pay a certain amount to the school per student enrolled there. "If the board of education excepts the charter, this is going to be a first-rate academic community," Lynn said. "A charter school allows everyone who wants to go there, to go there. It allows children of a lower economic status to figure skate, play tennis and play ice hockey."