Less than a month after the University of Maine System accepted a $1 million offer to sell the Hutchinson Center to an evangelical church, system officials are rescinding that decision and will reconsider how new proposals for the property will be solicited.
Possibilities include “issuing a new request for proposals, which would take into account both the real and potential value of all aspects of the proposals including those that relate to Networkmaine, or listing with a pre-qualified commercial broker,” UMaine System spokesperson Samantha Warren said in a Thursday press release.
Officials anticipate announcing how new offers for the sale or transfer of the Hutchinson Center will be solicited by Sept. 26.
The decision to rescind the offer comes after weeks of public uproar and dismay by Belfast citizens and unselected buyers alike who were disappointed with the buyer’s intended use for the Hutchinson Center, a former center for academics and community events. Calvary Church had intentions of using the center to introduce a Calvary-affiliated Christian school to Belfast.
Two rounds of appeals by the Committee for the Future of the Hutchinson Center and Waterfall Arts, both nonselected buyers, emphasized that their own intended uses of the building would be of great value and importance to the community. The Committee for the Future of the Hutchinson Center had intentions to restore the building to its former glory and included a clause in its offer to lease part of the building back to the University of Maine, if the school desired.
Without more focus on these issues, the groups argued, the selection process was “opaque” and “illogical.”
In the UMaine System’s appeal response, Ryan Low, the vice chancellor for finance and administration, concluded that the process had been conducted fairly by UMaine with integrity and full transparency, and was entirely consistent with long-standing public procurement policies.
At the commencement and review of the second round of appeals by both nonselected buyers, however, Low agreed with the Committee for the Future of the Hutchinson Center’s assertion that the evaluation criteria did not adequately allow for the full financial impacts of proposals to be considered.
At its conception, the request for proposals process was unique, if mildly unconventional.
University properties are typically sold through a commercial broker or with the solicitation of purchase offers through a competitive request for proposal process.
To sell the Hutchinson Center, the System took a different approach. Community feedback suggested utilizing bidders to purchase, lease, or propose creative alternatives for the Hutchinson Center.
In the initial process, the Committee for the Future of the Hutchinson Center and Waterfall Arts had been the only buyer to offer a creative alternative bid, offered the lowest cost, and were the only option with direct intentions to maintain the building’s original purpose for what it once was.
“Because only the purchase price and not the longer-term financial benefit of that proposal could be considered based on the scoring criteria set at the start of the request for proposal process, the System concluded the criteria for evaluating so-called ‘alternative creative real property offers’ was materially deficient,” the press release states.
The original selection was based on a scoring system that considered criteria such as purchase price and earnest money. As part of the bidding process, the UMaine System also proposed that a Networkmaine internet hub in the Hutchinson Center be allowed to remain at the site under the future owner. The hub provides critical connectivity for midcoast institutions, including public schools and libraries.
The request for proposals noted that the internet hub might require relocation to a different part of the property in the event of a sale, but the Committee for the Future of the Hutchinson Center and Waterfall Arts offered to keep the hub in its current location if they became the owners. They have argued that this would bring more overall value to the UMaine System, which would not need to pay for moving the hub under their proposal.
Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated at what stage Ryan Low weighed in on the appeals process and which group’s challenge he pointed to in his decision. It also mischaracterized the criteria the UMaine System originally used to evaluate proposals and how the Committee for the Future of the Hutchinson Center argued its proposal would bring more value to the system.
