Ice Arena rent must be paid, judge says

PROVO — A judge sent the dispute over The Peaks Ice Arena into overtime Thursday.

Seven Peaks Management Co. president Max Rabner can stay in the hockey venue used in the 2002 Winter Olympic Games if he pays the balance of the rent he owes on his lease by 5 p.m. today, 4th District Judge Derek Pullan ruled Thursday.

The judge issued the decision during a conference call with attorneys for Rabner and the Provo City/Utah County Ice Sheet Authority, which oversees the publicly owned facility.

The Ice Sheet Authority alleged Rabner did not make the 2003 rent payment on time and sued to terminate his lease. Rabner claimed the Ice Sheet Authority didn't deposit the check he presented. With the suit pending, he held back the 2004 and '05 rents.

Pullan created an order in February that Rabner must post all three rent payments with the court by Monday or be evicted.

But Rabner made a partial deposit of $200,000 by the deadline. The payment represented more than two years' rent, but was short of the $286,381.14 owed.

Rabner presented a company check for the remaining $86,000 to Pullan on Thursday, his attorney said, but Pullan ordered Rabner to make the payment with a certified check by 5 p.m. today or he would award immediate possession to the Ice Sheet Authority.

"We have always paid with company checks in the past," said David Pinkston, who represents Rabner. "We anticipated that would be sufficient. The court required a certified check and we're fine with that.

Seven Peaks has the funds available. Mr. Rabner assures me the funds are there."

Pinkston said Rabner celebrated Thursday's ruling.

"We're jubilant," Pinkston said. "This is what we've been trying to do for two years — have the Ice Sheet Authority accept our rent and move on with the lease."

Ice Sheet Authority attorney Jesse Trentadue said Pullan was very strict about the 5 p.m. deadline.

"This gives us a definite date and a definite time and a definite method of payment," Trentadue said.

Pullan ordered Rabner to deposit the 2003 and '04 rents with the court early last fall, but despite two extensions to fall deadlines granted by Pullan, Rabner did not comply. He said it was impossible to find potential investors to put up the money while the possibility existed he would lose his lease in the suit.