Sale of the University of Maine’s Hutchinson Center to highest-ranked respondent will proceed

The transparent request for proposals process was open for eight months to submissions, which were evaluated based on objective criteria consistent with public procurement standards

ORONO, Maine - The University of Maine System (UMS), on behalf of the University of Maine (UMaine), will move forward in negotiating a final agreement for the sale of the Hutchinson Center in Belfast with the organization that submitted the highest-scoring proposal.

A five-day formal protest period generated protests from Waldo Community Action Partners (WCAP) and the Future of the Hutchinson Center Steering Committee/Waterfall Arts that were thoroughly reviewed but did not present evidence to warrant a revision to the original result. Only parties who submitted a non-selected proposal had standing to protest.

The decision to sell the Hutchinson Center followed two decades of delivering education at the center and then two years of stakeholder engagement when a drop-off of in-person student enrollment and escalating operating costs made clear it would no longer be viable for the public university to sustain the facility. No degree-seeking students have taken classes in-person there since 2020, and rentals for conferences and events never rebounded to pre-pandemic levels.

The sale is consistent with a commitment in the System's strategic plan to achieve fiscal and energy efficiencies through the sale or lease of unused or underutilized buildings and land. Property transfers generate savings necessary to maintain affordable UMS education and allow the System's limited financial resources - which come through taxpayer and tuition dollars - to be appropriately focused on improving infrastructure essential to the current and future needs of Maine and its students.

The Bank of America donated the Hutchinson Center to UMaine in 2007 as a gift with no conditions. Since then the university has invested more than $14 million in capital improvements, including directly funding three-quarters of a large expansion project completed in 2009, for which UMaine still owes $885,000.

UMaine planned to list the property for sale with a commercial broker. However, in response to feedback from the community, the university (acting through UMS) instead issued a formal request for proposals (RFP) to allow more time for purchase, lease and creative alternative use offers to be developed and considered by UMaine fairly and transparently.

The criteria by which UMaine evaluated all of the proposals were detailed in the original RFP and subsequent public documents.

The RFP was open to submissions for eight months, with the most recent offer received by the university on July 29. During that period, potential respondents were invited to ask questions and seek clarity about any aspect of the property and process, including the scoring metrics. Additionally, a pre-bid bidders conference was hosted via Zoom and multiple opportunities were provided for all interested parties to tour and ask questions about the property, which includes a 30,515-square-foot main building, 1,963-square-foot barn and 11.6 acres.

The top two scoring respondents - Calvary Chapel Belfast and WCAP - both submitted purchase offers of $1 million. Key factors that distinguished the winning proposal included:

• The top-scoring proposal offered a $1 annual lease agreement in perpetuity for a carve-out of space so the UMS can continue to maintain internet connectivity for midcoast schools, libraries and community centers through a NetworkMaine access hub historically located at the center. This was more favorable than the proposal from WCAP, which offered to lease the space back to the System at a rate of $2 per square foot annually.
• The top-scoring proposal waived the right to inspect the property before the sale. As the university has publicly disclosed, there was water damage due to burst pipes in the building in February.
• The top-scoring proposal offered $250,000 in earnest money, five times the offer of the second-highest bidder.

None of the proposals would have resulted in the property - appraised in 2023 at $2.52 million - being added to local tax rolls.

Since announcing the award last week, at least 135 citizen comments have been sent to the System about the pending sale. In response, UMS offers the following statement and will not comment further:

Long-standing State and System public procurement policy and process is intentionally designed to protect against bias and ensure the integrity of public entities in their stewardship of public resources and trust.

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 cannot discriminate, including on the basis of religion. Doing so would be against the law and inconsistent with the university's commitment to inclusion.

About the University of Maine System

The University of Maine System (UMS) is the state's largest driver of educational attainment and economic development and its seven public universities and law school are the most affordable in New England. Over the past two decades, UMS has awarded 106,362 degrees and spurred and strengthened thousands of small Maine businesses through its world-class research and development activities. For more information, visit www.maine.edu.

Media Contact:

Samantha Warren
Director of External Affairs, University of Maine System
207-632-0389 / [email protected]

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