In the two months since Vincent and Sally Thibeault went public with their plans for a family entertainment complex on Gardiner Road, the Wiscasset couple have been taking steps toward getting it built.

Many steps remain, including seeking the planning board’s approval; but talks with a prospective architect for the project, state transportation staff, and agencies helping to explore funding have all been going well, Vincent Thibeault said July 17.

“We’re extremely upbeat,” he said Friday when asked how optimistic he and his wife are that the project will happen.

“Every meeting we have had has been very positive, and it’s very promising that our ideas, thoughts and plans have been validated every step of the way,” Thibeault said. “It’s been a very good process for us to go through. We do have a plan, and every step we take solidifies more for us that this will come to fruition at some point.”

While Thibeault said they don’t know when they will be ready to get back in front of the planning board, one milestone toward the complex is near: In early August, the Thibeaults expect to buy the land to build it on.

They have had a purchase-and-sale agreement on the property since spring. Their plans for the complex include tenpin bowling, indoor batting cages, billiards, a rock-climbing wall, massage chairs, virtual golf, video gaming, a dance club, a  function room to rent, an ice cream shop, dining, and later, an expansion to include outdoor activities.

The goal is a complex with multiple entertainment options in a fun environment for an after-school hangout and a nightly, weekend or summer destination, the Thibeaults told the town in documents before a planning board meeting in May.

The couple told the planning board May 11 that they want to serve the family market, and have no desire to ever seek a liquor license.

The May meeting was a preliminary one, with no site plan yet for the board to consider. Since then, the couple have had no more meetings with the board. The Thibeaults met recently with representatives of the Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) to make sure the project will meet state requirements on the driveway’s entrance.

He and his wife will need to give MDOT an engineer’s plan to review, he said.

On other fronts, the nonprofit Coastal Enterprises (CEI) has connected the Thibeaults with a potential lender; and the couple have been getting information from the Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission about other possible funding sources to look into.

On July 16, the Thibeaults met with an architect. “That was to see if he was a good match for us, and it was a very good meeting, very promising,” Vincent Thibeault said. It also helped them get a better handle on the cost of the project, he said: Thibeault projected it at $3 million.

The next major step will be the financing, after which the surveying, engineering and other advance work can proceed; that all needs to be done before they return to the planning board with a site plan, he said.

Abutting homeowner Anthony Vitti has said he will fight having the complex’s driveway near his property line. Thibeault on Friday said Vitti’s is still the only objection he is aware of, and that existing trees plus others being considered, such as blue spruce, will buffer the properties on either side of the driveway.