Tooele County’s entanglement with the former Miller Motorsports Park continued in 2016.
The year started with a judge’s ruling that pulled the plug on the county commission’s deal to sell the racetrack to a Chinese businessman. It ended with another judge invalidating the commission’s sale of the facility to the county’s redevelopment agency, a precursor for a new attempt to sell the park.
The county became the owner of Miller Motorsports Park when the Larry H. Miller Group decided not to renew its 10-year-old lease on the facility.
Miller Group officials made the announcement in May 2015. The lease agreement expired in February 2016.
The county already owned the land. The track, the buildings, and all other improvements became the county’s property when the lease expired, according to the county’s agreement with the Miller Group.
The county commission’s call for proposals to purchase the racetrack ended in October 2015 when they signed a purchase agreement for $20 million with Mitime Investment and Development Company, owned by Chinese businessman Li Shufu.
Shufu is the founder of Geely Automotive Group, China’s largest privately held auto manufacturer. Geely also owns Volvo and the London Taxi Company. Volvo is currently building a factory in South Carolina.
However, Center Point Management, a Las Vegas-based development company, filed a lawsuit to stop the sale to Mitime because the county rejected Center Point’s higher offer of $22.1 million.
During court hearings on its complaint, Center Point upped its offer to $28.1 million, equal to the racetrack’s assessed value for property tax purposes.
Third District Court Judge Robert Adkins issued a written judgment on Jan. 6, 2016. He said the county could not sell the racetrack to Mitime under the current contract because $20 million was less than the facility’s fair market value.
The county then entered into a management agreement with Utah Motorsports Campus, a subsidiary of Mitime, to run the facility for the county for up to one year while the county contracted for new appraisals and reconsidered its sales strategy.
The management agreement called for Tooele County to be responsible for operating losses at UMC, which were estimated to be $3 million, according to the county approved UMC budget.
The county also agreed to reimburse UMC for approved assets purchased to replace assets owned and removed by the Miller Group when the lease expired.
The purchased assets will become the county’s property and may be sold with the facility, according to Tooele County Commissioner Shawn Milne.
For its management fee, UMC will receive 1 percent of the racetrack’s gross cash receipts.
UMC ran a full season in 2016 with the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series, the Moto America Superbike Challenge, the Utah Region of the National Auto Sport Association, the Pirelli World Championship, and NASCAR’s K&N Pro Series.
UMC also hosted major national kart races, the American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association’s Bonneville Vintage Grand Prix, a visit from the Porsche Club of America, and the Utah Sport Bike Association.
UMC also hosted some new non-race events such as the Battle Frog Obstacle Course and the Lantern Fest.
The Rodizio Grill in Salt Lake City opened a restaurant at the racetrack’s former clubhouse. The restaurant is open to the public.
In August 2016 the county commission sold the racetrack to the county’s Redevelopment Agency for $20 million.
State laws give RDAs more latitude and control over property sales to promote economic development, making the RDA better suited to sell the facility, according to attorneys for the county’s RDA.
The process to sell the racetrack to the RDA appeared confusing because state law requires the RDA board of directors for a county to be the county commission. It looked like the county commission had sold the racetrack to the county, although the RDA is a separate legal entity.
But earlier this month, the sale to the RDA was invalidated by a pre-trial ruling from Third District Court Judge Randall Skanchy.
Skanchy’s ruling was in response to another complaint filed by Center Point Management.
Center Point claimed the sale to the RDA was unlawful and requested the court to direct the county to sell the property to Center Point as the “highest, best and only qualifying offer” submitted in the 2015 bidding and sales process.
Both the county and Center Point filed pre-trial motions asking Skanchy for summary judgment, essentially a request to set aside the lawsuit and issue a ruling without a trial.
Skanchy’s ruling invalidated the sale to the RDA, but he did not direct the county to sell the racetrack to Center Point.
Skanchy also ordered Center Point to post a $1 million bond to cover potential losses to Tooele County by a delayed sale.
Tooele County has a verbal agreement with UMC to continue to operate the racetrack in 2017. The county commission is working on a written agreement to extend the terms of the management agreement, according to Milne.
In the meantime, county officials and their legal council are reviewing Skanchy’s decision and have not determined their next course of action, according to Tooele County Attorney Scott Broadhead.
