University of Maine selects buyer for Hutchinson Center in Belfast

The university provided notice to the three organizations who submitted proposals late yesterday and will announce the details of the top-scoring proposal following a standard appeal period

ORONO, Maine - The University of Maine has selected a buyer for the Hutchinson Center in Belfast.

Following a thorough review of the three offers submitted in response to a competitive request for proposals publicly issued earlier this year, UMaine will sell to Calvary Chapel Belfast because they had the top-scoring response.

Other proposals were submitted by Waldo County Community Action Partners and Friends of the Hutchinson Center/Waterfall Arts.

The university provided notice to the three organizations last night. The notice does not constitute an agreement.

Per long-standing University of Maine System (UMS) policy, the proposals will not be made public and the university can not comment further until the expiration of a five-business-day appeal period and the review of any appeals, which must be submitted in writing by an organization whose offer was not selected by 5 p.m. EST on Wednesday, Aug. 21.

UMaine/UMS would then negotiate a final agreement with Calvary Chapel Belfast, which was established in 2008 and rented space at the Hutchinson Center from 2017-2020.

Beyond the proposed purchase price and other factors, the university's scoring took into consideration how the buyer would work with UMS to maintain internet connectivity for midcoast schools, libraries and community centers through a System-supported NetworkMaine access hub long located at the site.

The UMS Board of Trustees authorized UMaine to sell the Hutchinson Center last month.

Built in 2000 by MBNA and gifted to UMaine in 2007 by Bank of America, the center was once a vibrant hub for university education and community events in the midcoast, but no degree-seeking students have taken classes there in-person since 2020 following a pandemic-accelerated shift to online learning.

As noted in a July media release from UMS, despite the decline in usage of the Hutchinson Center and its eventual closure, the percentage of degree-seeking UMS students from Waldo County has remained consistent over the past six years. Beyond enrollment of local students at its campuses in Orono and Machias, free early college programs at all high schools in the county, area employer partnerships and online offerings, UMaine continues to have a presence in the region including through its Cooperative Extension Tanglewood 4-H Camp and Learning Center in Lincolnville (External Site).

The Hutchinson Center sale is consistent with a commitment in the new UMS strategic plan to achieve fiscal and energy efficiencies by selling or leasing buildings and land that are unused or underutilized. Property transfers generate savings necessary to maintain affordable UMS education for Maine students, ensure the System's limited financial resources are focused on improving essential infrastructure and allow assets to be repurposed for community benefit. For example, already this year the University of Maine at Presque Isle has sold its Houlton Higher Education Center (External Site) to an area nonprofit that provides services to individuals with intellectual disabilities and the University of Maine at Augusta sold four undeveloped acres to BangorHousing to make way for 50 new units of needed affordable senior housing.

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]

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.