A former Toledo businessman with a history of troubled enterprises and a member of a board involved in an unsuccessful attempt to build an amphitheater in Rossford are trying to build a similar facility in Hawaii.

Terry Gallagher of Palm Harbor, Fla., who once owned four Toledo hotels, and Jeff Bryant, economic development director of Livonia, Mich., are partners in Global Venue Group LLC of Northville, Mich., said officials in Honolulu County, where a proposed 15,000-seat, $20 million amphitheater is proposed.

A conditional-use permit was issued yesterday for the project, said Kathy Sokugawa, acting director of the Honolulu County planning and permit department. Among the conditions is that the amphitheater maintain quiet hours from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., not unlike a noise requirement at the DTE Energy Music Theatre, formerly Pine Knob, in suburban Detroit.

Global Venue Group has a tentative lease agreement for 34.5 acres in Kapolei, about 15 miles west of Honolulu, where they would build the facility. A prominent Honolulu architecture firm, Kober Hanssen Mitchell, has developed an amphitheater design. Neighborhood and business groups have endorsed the project.

Mr. Bryant told Pacific Business News the project would be financed by a Denver equity investor. Though also widely quoted in the Hawaiian print media, Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Bryant declined to discuss with The Blade the project or their business relationship.

“I don t want to participate in this story,” Mr. Bryant said from his office in Livonia.

Said Mr. Gallagher: “I live in Florida now, and I have nothing do with Toledo or The Toledo Blade anymore.”

Mr. Bryant has identified himself with Honolulu officials and media as Global Venue s president and chief executive officer, while Mr. Gallagher has said he is a partner in the company. The company was established in 1999 in Toledo by Mr. Bryant, according to Ohio incorporation records.

A Northville address for Global Venue given to Honolulu s planning and permit department matches a residential address for a Jeff Bryant there. The phone number is unlisted.

Mr. Gallagher, 63, is a member of a prominent Toledo family. His late father, Francis, was one of the city s leading lawyers. His brother, Charles, chairman of Gallagher Enterprises in Denver, has remained a Toledo philanthropist. Another brother, Kevin, operates a successful business in Marietta, Ga.

Friends and critics say Terry Gallagher is a charismatic marketing whiz possessing considerable charm, boundless optimism, and a sharp eye for business opportunities that often haven t worked out.

“One of the things that has always intrigued me about Terry is that he can smell a deal through six feet of concrete,” said Toledo architect Melvin Mull, a former business partner of Mr. Gallagher.

A football star at St. Francis de Sales High School, Mr. Gallagher sold insurance for the former Bayer & Associates. In 1973, he owned or partly owned the Renaissance Hotel, Glass City Inn, University Inn, Valentine Theatre, Long Horn Saloon, Ontario Parking, Inc., a Michigan housing development company, nine Old West End homes, and a 46-foot sailboat.

In 1974, he pleaded guilty to charges of failing to pay payroll taxes to the city. Two years later, he filed for personal bankruptcy. Most of his properties were auctioned off.

Mr. Gallagher later owned the former Riverview Inn on Summit Street before filing for bankruptcy again in 1994. The next year, his company, G&G Investments, Inc., was found guilty of keeping $2,300 in union dues paid by Riverview employees.

In 2001, Mr. Gallagher moved to Florida, where he convinced family and friends to invest in two New Port Richey bars he operated: Bronco Bill s, which opened in November, 2002, and The Classics. Neither venture worked out for Mr. Gallagher.

Kevin Gallagher said he lost a significant amount of money in the Bronco Bill s venture and now has the nightclub up for sale. Mr. Gallagher said he knows who the Colorado investor in the Hawaiian amphitheater project is, but wouldn t name him. Neither he nor his other brother, Charles, are involved with Terry Gallagher in the Hawaii project, he said.

“This is Terry by himself. I was surprised by it, but Terry always has a deal going,” Kevin Gallagher said. “We all wish him well.”

Mr. Bryant was a marketing specialist for the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority in the late 1980s. He later joined Toledo Edison, where he worked in communications and eventually moved into the company s economic development department, Richard Wilkins, a Toledo Edison spokesman, said.

While at Toledo Edison, Mr. Bryant represented the company on the Rossford Economic Growth Corp. board, which was formed in 1994 to boost economic development in the town s I-75/Ohio Turnpike/S.R. 795 corridor. The board spearheaded efforts to assemble land options and other arrangements for the proposed arena-amphitheater project at the so-called “Crossroads of America.”

The Rossford Arena Amphitheater Authority was eventually formed in 1999 because it would have authority to issue tax-exempt revenue bonds that might move the project forward. But officials gave up on the arena project early on and the amphitheater was partially constructed when funding dried up.

“Jeff was always nice to work with. He was very laid-back,” said L. Craig Bergman, who served on the economic growth board with Mr. Bryant.

Mr. Bryant left Toledo Edison for the Livonia job several years ago. Pat Seleski, a spokesman for the city of Livonia, said she is unaware of Mr. Bryant s involvement with Global Venue and did not know if it is a breach of city policy for him to be involved in both jobs.

Livonia Mayor Jack Kirksey, city attorney Sean Kavangh, and planning director Mark TaorMina, Mr. Bryant s boss, have not returned repeated phone calls from The Blade.

Nonetheless, the project appears to be moving along with yesterday s conditional permit approval. Besides the quiet hours, other conditions include presenting revised traffic study information and lighting plans.

“We don t want to impose conditions so harsh that it may kill the project,” Eric Crispin, director of Honolulu s planning and permits department, said.

Global Venue has signed a land lease agreement with the estate of James Campbell, a major landowner who came to Hawaii in the 1800s, for the amphitheater site in Kapolei, the island of Oahu s fastest-growing area. The agreement has not been finalized.

“They have to fulfill a number of conditions before the lease is signed,” said Theresia McMurdo, the estate s spokesman. Ms. McMurdo declined to reveal the conditions or the lease terms.

Meanwhile, Mr. Gallagher has been busy winning over Kaploei community leaders. On Dec. 3, he told the West Oahu Economic Development Association the complex should be completed in 2005 and draw 500,000 customers its first year.

“It was excellent, a great presentation,” said Nancy Maeda, the association s president. “This is something we ve been trying to do all along. We hope this thing goes through.”

First Published December 24, 2003, 1:50 p.m.