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The saga of the transferring of ownership of the Waterford Speedbowl is officially over.

After much legal wrestling the last three months in court over the foreclosure auction, Bruce Bemer made quick work of getting the property in his hands once he could.

Bemer is now the owner of the Waterford Speedbowl.

Bemer confirmed that he closed on ownership of the property Thursday morning.

“It’s all closed,” Bemer said. “It’s a done deal.”

It ends a drawn out foreclosure saga that began on Oct. 18 when Bemer was the high bidder – at $1.75 million – in the foreclosure auction of the facility.

Bemer’s hopes to get his hands on the facility quickly after the auction were dashed when creditor Ed DeMuzzio began setting legal roadblocks in the way of a quick transfer.

On Jan. 26 DeMuzzio filed a formal appeal of the sale price, which could have possibly put transfer of the property in jeopardy for over a year. But on Wednesday DeMuzzio settled in a deal with other creditors and Bemer and withdrew his appeal.

Superior Court Judge Emmet Cosgrove had previously approved the sale price of the facility before DeMuzzio’s appeal.

Bemer said his intention is to run a traditional weekly season beginning with races in April.

Bemer was a surprise bidder to many during the Oct. 18 auction of the facility, but his steps forward in preparing for the 2015 season were slowed in court by DeMuzzio.

DeMuzzio was at risk of losing $250,000, which included about $110,000 invested in the property and about $140,000 in accrued interest.

On Nov. 14 Cosgrove had denied two objections to the sale price filed by DeMuzzio and his company, CCI Inc., essentially approving the sale price at that time, but opening the door for DeMuzzio to file a formal appeal.

DeMuzzio had filed the motion for the judge to reconsider his approval of the sale price on Dec. 3. DeMuzzio had been facing a deadline then to file a formal appeal of the approval of the sale when he filed the motion to reconsider.

On Jan. 5, Superior Court Judge Emmet Cosgrove denied a motion by DeMuzzio to reconsider the previous approval of the auction sale price of the Speedbowl.

The Jan. 5 ruling essentially put the case back to where it was Nov. 14 when Cosgrove approved the sale price, giving DeMuzzio the right to file a formal appeal of the sale price.

The formal appeal of the approval of sale could have delayed transfer of the property from owner Terry Eames to Bemer for more than a year and could have put the 2015 racing season at the track in jeopardy.

On Nov. 3 Cosgrove heard objections to the sale filed by DeMuzzio and CCI Inc. In his objection, DeMuzzio alleged that there was collusion between creditors Rocco Arbitell, Peter Borelli, Theodore Parker and Shawn Parker to keep the bidding price low for the auction. DeMuzzio also argued that the property should have been better marketed to attract a higher bid in favor of creditors to realize returns on their debts.

There was just over $2 million owed on the property by Eames and his ownership group at the time of the auction. The property had recently been valued at about $3 million and was being advertised on the market for sale with an asking price of $3.3 million prior to the auction.

In denying the motion on Jan. 5 to reconsider the approval of the sale price, Cosgrove said there was “nothing … that makes the court doubt the fairness of the sale price.”

In July 2007, Arbitell, a Southbury businessman and local racing supporter, along with his business associate Borrelli, stepped in to offer Eames and his ownership group, 1080 Hartford Road LLC, financing to avoid a foreclosure action being taken then by former mortgage holder Washington Mutual Bank. The deal with Arbitell was announced a day before the track’s auction date for a foreclosure in 2007.

In May 2008 Arbitell brought his own foreclosure action against the ownership group after former track operator Jerry Robinson failed to pay the Speedbowl’s property taxes.

Facing another pending foreclosure auction, Eames and 1080 Hartford Road LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October 2009. A debt reorganization plan was accepted by bankruptcy court in January 2012 and the ownership cleared bankruptcy not long after that.

In March 2013, Arbitell and the rest of the creditors involved in the bankruptcy moved to have foreclosure action retaken against the Speedbowl ownership, which led to the Oct. 18 auction.