The state's plan to convert former courthouses into housing is moving forward after sales of courthouses in Biddeford and Sanford earlier this month.
The Mills administration approved the plan last spring after three district courthouses in York County closed when the state opened a new York Judicial Center last year.
Diane Small, executive director at the Sanford Housing Authority, says when the state came to her with opportunity, she knew it would be a challenge.
"We thought, OK, so this is going to be challenging because it's a courthouse with interior rooms with no windows, no installation, kind of a difficult retrofit, but we did a feasibility study and thought, yep. This is a great way for us to really leverage some money, because we bought it from the state for $1, to really repurpose that building for housing in Springdale," says Small.
Both housing authorities purchased the buildings from the state for $1 and plan to turn the courthouses into at least 10 units of affordable housing.
Small says the property will allow them to meet a need they were seeing in the community.
"We had just done a strategic plan that led us to say that our focus for housing, the housing authority, should really be seniors and our unhoused population, like, how can we serve those folks, too? That's kind of the missing piece for Sanford," says Small.
Small says, pending funding, the authority plans to convert the building into 18 units of housing for adults ages 55 and older.
State officials are considering selling a third courthouse in York, though the plans for that location are unclear.
