BANGOR, Maine — Faced with too much space for the number of students enrolled, University of Maine System trustees will decide during their regular meeting next week whether to pursue selling up to 10 properties in four communities around the state.
During a Monday morning meeting, the University of Maine System finance and facilities committee recommended that the full board give system officials the go-ahead to “sell or otherwise dispose of” real estate in Bangor, Old Town, Portland and Machias.
Chip Gavin, University of Maine System director of facilities management and general services, said the system is working to “right-size” its portfolio by shedding excess space and increasing the density of staff and students on campuses.
In addition to having space it doesn’t need, according to recent independent reviews of the system, too much of that space is declining in quality and condition.
“That trend and that reality needs to change,” Gavin said.
One of the properties University of Maine System Chancellor James Page hopes to shed by the end of the year is the system offices in downtown Bangor. About 100 system employees would relocate to other locations on the University of Maine campus. The details of that plan are still in the works as part of Page’s One University initiative.
The University of Maine System offices, which are known as Unit 2 in the historic downtown Grant building, are valued at just over $1 million, according to the city assessor. The system spends about $141,000 per year operating the building.
In Portland, the system could decide to sell off as many as seven buildings on the perimeter of the University of Southern Maine campus. The “white houses,” as they’re commonly known, are a series of former residential buildings, located on Chamberlain Avenue, Deering Avenue and Granite Street, that were converted into University of Maine System office space.
The system estimates those seven buildings could be sold for $1.2 million-$1.4 million, with an additional $250,000-$300,000 in savings over five years because of the loss of lease payments and operating costs.
Last month, the University of Maine at Machias evacuated and closed Kimball Hall because of structural concerns after a “facility assessment” found that portions of the exterior brick walls might fail because of years of deterioration.
That building could be sold, repaired or demolished depending on the extent of the damage and whether the university could adapt and shuffle staff to exist without the historic building. Kimball Hall houses faculty offices, The Galley dining area, student gathering spaces and the UMaine Machias Facilities Division.
Gavin said it could cost up to $4.5 million to complete the backlog of renovations needed at Kimball Hall. Demolition would carry its own costs as well.
The full board also will consider whether to allow officials to try to sell a 30-acre piece of undeveloped land along Stillwater Avenue in Old Town, next to the elementary school. That property includes a small portion of the DeMeritt Forest. The property could serve as commercial space, as an auto shop and Dairy Queen are just across the road.
If the university were to sell the land, it would “make those resources available for the purchase of land of greater academic value elsewhere,” according to the system.
The two-day trustees meeting is scheduled for Sunday and Monday, March 15-16, at Wells Conference Center at the University of Maine in Orono.
For the full agenda, visit www.maine.edu/about-the-system/board-of-trustees/.
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