The residents of the Linnhaven Mobile Home Center in Brunswick have successfully closed on the purchase of their property.
They appear to be the first residents to successfully use a new Maine law requiring that mobile home residents be given advance notice of a park sale. The law also allows them a chance to bid on and try to purchase the property themselves.
Several other large mobile home parks in Maine have recently been sold to large, out-of-state corporations.
"This is not a Band-Aid. This is a fix. This is something that keeps this an affordable housing community forever," said Janet Fournier, a Linnhaven resident and president of the Blueberry Fields Cooperative.
Lot rents for the 277 households should stay more affordable than they would have if the park had been purchased by a corporate investor, the cooperative said.
The deal came together with help from the Cooperative Development Institute, the Genesis Community Fund, MaineHousing and others.
Tom Benoit, the cooperative's vice president, said he was impressed with how his Linnhaven neighbors came together to organize and form a resident-owned co-op.
"They collected votes, they went around talking to their neighbors, offering to drive people," he said. "I just think it's awesome what a community can do it comes together for the common good."
Gov. Janet Mills and other state and local representatives are expected to join the residents in celebrating the sale at an event Tuesday.
