Auburn is seeking a $3 million insurance payout on the burned-out parking structure

City officials are seeking a $3 million insurance recovery for the HR Wait building that arsonists burned on Oct. 28.

But the local agent who wrote the policy said he couldn’t have given up so much willingly.

The city’s chances of collecting the disputed replacement value of the historic downtown landmark are made murkier because it is not the legal owner.

The century-old building was purchased in August 1992 for $85,000 by the Auburn Local Development Corporation, a non-profit agency claiming independence from the city while maintaining its headquarters in City Hall.

Although the ALDC asked city officials to include the HR Wait building in Auburn’s $33 million comprehensive insurance policy, the city never charged the nonprofit agency the $145 premium. City taxpayers footed the bill.

Charles Adams, owner of Adams and Son, said officials never told him the city didn’t own the building when he extended $100,000 in coverage for it under the city’s umbrella policy. He said the ALDC was not mentioned anywhere in the policy.

“When you pay $145, you can’t expect $33 million in coverage,” Adams said.

Both City Manager James Malone and City Attorney Andrew Lalonde confirmed yesterday that they had no documents proving they told Adams the real owners of the building.

But Lalonde said: “This was common knowledge, and if they didn’t know from us, they should have known from newspaper articles written at the time the building was purchased.”

Malone indicated that Adams is now doing what he can to save himself the cost of implementing this policy.