By Brenna R. Kelly
Enquirer staff writer

FLORENCE - The Florence Freedom could be homeless today.

The city of Florence, which owns the land under the minor league team's stadium, could evict the baseball team from the stadium for violating its lease.

Florence Mayor Diane Whalen said she'll announce this morning what the city plans to do about the lease.

As of Friday the team's ownership group, Northern Kentucky Professional Baseball LLC, faced $4 million in liens filed by contractors who said they have not been paid for work done at Champion Window Field.

The liens violate the lease, which states the stadium must be debt-free. On July 21, Paul Michels and Sons, the contractor that was paving the stadium's roads and parking lots, filed a lien for $843,856. On July 23, the city told the team it had 30 days to comply with the lease.

The stadium is about 80 percent complete because contractors stopped work last month after claiming they were not paid.

If the team's owners do not pay for the stadium to be finished, the city can go after the assets of Connie and Chuck Hildebrant, according to the lease. The Hildebrants, who own 20 percent of the team, signed a personal financial guarantee with the city and provided financial statements showing they had personal assets to cover the cost of the stadium.

After the Enquirer requested those statements, a Boone County judge ordered the city to withhold them. The Enquirer has asked the court to make the records public.

Chuck Hildebrant, 45, is being investigated by the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office of Southern Ohio about how he financed construction of the stadium, authorities said last week.

Hildebrant has also been ordered by courts in Hamilton and Warren counties to immediately repay a total of almost $4.5 million in loans to Provident and Fifth Third banks. A Kenton County judge ordered Heritage Bank to freeze all of Hildebrant's accounts in response to a request by Fifth Third.

In addition to the liens, Northern Kentucky Professional Baseball also owes the city $192,617 - the balance of its first payment on the lease.

The team paid the city $5,000 of the $197,617 payment Aug. 10 in an attempt to show it is committed to the lease and baseball in Florence.

The Freedom plays in Washington, Pa., today and Tuesday. The team is scheduled to return home Wednesday for its last six games of the season.

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E-mail bkelly@enquirer.com