Hotelier sues Brunswick over tax deal
A Brunswick hotel owner is suing the town, challenging a nearly $1 million tax break recently approved for a proposed inn at Maine Street Station.
Peter Anastos, a principal of Brunswick Fairfield LLC, which owns the Brunswick Marriott Fairfield Inn and Suites, filed the suit earlier this month in Cumberland County Superior Court, according to a press release from Anastos. The suit seeks access to a feasibility study the town used in assessing the need for a $907,221 credit enhancement agreement for a proposed 54-room downtown inn. The town's attorney has refused to release the study commissioned by JHR Development of Maine, citing trade secrets and confidential information, which Anastos said prevented residents and competing businesses to adequately evaluate the proposal.
The Brunswick Town Council earlier this month approved a tax-increment financing district and the credit enhancement agreement, which provides 100% tax abatement for five years and 75%-80% abatement over the following five years, an arrangement Anastos questions. He argued that the new inn would not add jobs or revenue to the town but instead take business from the town's existing hotels, which currently have a 45% annual occupancy rate, according to the release.
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