The University of Maine System said it will start negotiating a final sale agreement for the Hutchinson Center in Belfast, after two appeals challenged its decision to sell the property to a local church.
The system announced last week that Calvary Chapel Belfast made the top proposal to buy the facility, which had served as a satellite campus for education and community events for two decades.
Two organizations appealed the decision after their competing offers to purchase the property were rejected, the non-profit Waldo Community Action Partners (WCAP), as well as the Future of the Hutchinson Center Steering Committee and Waterfall Arts, a joint group of Belfast residents and a local community art center.
Both the church and WCAP offered $1 million to buy the Hutchinson Center, the university system said this week.
But the system said Calvary Chapel made a better offer, because it included space for the university to maintain internet hosting capabilities for its midcoast schools and libraries inside the facility, at a cost of $1 per year in perpetuity. WCAP, in contrast, offered to lease the area to the UMaine system for $2 a square foot each year.
The church also waived its right to an inspection, university officials said. The facility has water damage due to pipes that burst back in February.
University officials said they've received at least 135 comments from the public about the pending sale in recent days.
"Every organization and individual had the same opportunity to submit a proposal in response to the Hutchinson Center RFP, and all proposals received were scored by the same objective standards, which have been publicly available for eight months," the university system said in a statement. "The university cannot discriminate, including on the basis of religion. Doing so would be against the law and inconsistent with the university’s commitment to inclusion."
University officials have said degree-seeking students haven't taken classes at the long-time community events hub since the pandemic, and facility rentals haven't rebounded. The university system said it plans to close on the Hutchinson Center sale this fall.
