LINCOLN, Maine — Town officials will sell for $1 the former Ballard Hill Community Center to local senior center operators who plan to turn it into an office and senior citizen bus service center, they said Friday.
With the sale, Golden Key Senior Center co-founders Jim and Jon Whitney will relieve the town of maintenance costs, which run about $16,000 annually just for heating oil, while expanding their enterprise, officials said.
“We have a very good opportunity to sell the building for what we feel is a very important project,” Town Manager Ronald Weatherbee said Friday. “We feel that this is the best option that we have for the building right now.”
As part of the deal, which Town Council members voted 6-0 to accept last week, the Whitneys will own the building and the land within 25 feet of it. The town will own the rest of the land, which includes a large recreational field. If Golden Key leaves, the building will revert back to town ownership. This allows the town to retain control of a valuable parcel, officials said.
The Whitneys plan to renovate the building for the office and have the bus service drive seniors to shopping and medical centers, plus do day trips, for nominal fees, officials said. Ruth Birtz, the town’s economic development coordinator, called Golden Key “a model for how to take care of the elderly.”
Councilors almost voted to close the building during budget deliberations in 2008, citing its maintenance costs, age, energy inefficiency and lack of use. Councilors have considered relocating the town office at the center over the years, but balked at the building’s problems. Of late, its largest use had been as a storage center for town records, officials said.
The Whitneys expressed satisfaction with the deal, which will be signed within two weeks. They declined further comment.