The University of Maine is selling the Hutchinson Center, a Belfast center that once hosted in-person classes and community events, but because the university identified the buyer as an evangelical church, it faced criticism from the community.

The sale is now being challenged through the university’s appeals process and state law.

“I don’t know how the university does these things, but they were never a big fan of the Hutchinson Centre,” said former Belfast mayor Mike Hurley. “It was like a gift they couldn’t say no to. Then with COVID and home schooling, it became expendable very quickly.”

The center stopped in-person classes in 2020, and the number of community organizations renting the center never returned to pre-pandemic levels, said Samantha Warren, the University of Maine System’s director of external relations.

The building, which has been vacant since operations ceased in August 2023, was valued at $2.5 million and could have been listed with a commercial broker for sale to the highest bidder, Warren said. But the university decided to solicit purchase offers to bring this “once vibrant community hub back into use,” she said.

As part of this process, interested groups had to submit proposals for the 3,000 square meter area. These could be offers to buy, rent or other creative ideas for the area. Each proposal was evaluated using a points system.

After UMaine announced last Thursday that Calvary Chapel of Belfast had received the highest score, the other two applicants said they had appealed the decision.

The church is part of an international association of Calvary Chapels. According to the proposal posted on its website, the Belfast church wants to use the space to expand its congregation, house its homeschooling co-op and support addiction recovery efforts. Church leadership did not respond to multiple requests for an interview.

“At this point, it seems completely inappropriate to take the Hutchinson Center away from the public and donate it to a religious organization of any kind,” Senator Chip Curry (D-Belfast) said in March as lawmakers considered a bill to transfer ownership of the center to the city. The bill ultimately failed to pass.

The university system said at the time that it had a long-standing policy of divesting buildings and land and that calling for proposals would ensure that “the best ideas for Belfast are heard, thereby promoting the interests of both the community and our public universities”.

The bidding process

The other two bidders fighting the sale are local community groups: Waldo Community Action Partners and Future of Hutchinson Center Committee.

Donna M. Kelley, president and CEO of Waldo CAP, said she hopes the space can accommodate the nonprofit, which currently operates in a rented space that is too small for its various care programs, transportation, community activities and large staff. She said she believes the nonprofit has put together a solid proposal that maintains the local, community-focused space.

Kelley said Waldo CAP offered $1 million in cash and he was not sure why the church was favored in the evaluation.

The committee’s proposal for the future of the Hutchinson Center called for maintaining the center as an educational, cultural and civic resource and establishing it as a host for community nonprofits under the leadership of Waterfall Arts.

Shane Flynn, spokesman for the committee, said his group submitted a creative proposal to buy the center for $500,000 and still give the university full access to the center’s internet distribution network, which he said provides internet access to major colleges and K-12 systems, as well as Maine’s public libraries. He argued their offer was worth about $1.9 million because of that access and previous community contributions to build a second wing.

It’s not clear how much the church offered. Kelley said it was $1 million, with some funding contingency, but Warren would not confirm the details of the offers, saying they would be available after the appeals process is complete and everyone is informed of the decision.

Flynn said his committee’s appeal had already been rejected on Tuesday evening and described the process as “unclear.”

“There are no objective actors making decisions there and the process is non-transparent. Given that it is a public university, we find this extremely offensive,” he said.

There is an opportunity to appeal to the university’s Chief Facilities Officer, and he said the committee will do so.

Warren said the university is careful and prudent in its competitive bidding and that selling “unused or underused” properties keeps tuition costs low for students.

“Many of these organizations don’t do a lot of transactions of this nature, so we do a lot of educational work during this and other procurement processes,” she said.

“It meant everything to people”

The Hutchinson Center has been rooted in Belfast for nearly 25 years. It was envisioned by the CEO of MBNA, a Delaware-based bank holding company that “changed everything” in Belfast, which began as a “chicken-processing, shoe-making, sardine-slicing, potato-boiling” city with a “run-down” downtown, said Hurley, who was the city’s mayor from 2000 to 2008 and served on the City Council for 13 years.

The MBNA campus in Belfast in 2005. The complex was leased to the University of Maine. Now UMaine wants to sell it. Press Herald archive photo

MBNA built the property in 2000 and leased it to the UMaine system for $1, Hurley said.

“It was not the University of Maine that benefitted, but the people of Belfast and the Midcoast region, and they took advantage of it,” he said.

Hurley said the Hutchinson Center “meant everything” to Belfast residents because it allowed them to graduate without having to drive to Orono to attend classes in person. The large lecture hall accommodated films, business conferences, art, assemblies and graduating classes. There is nothing that can replace it, he said.

Curry, the state senator, said there is no comparable community space left in Waldo County after the Wentworth Event Center burned down about a year ago.

Warren said the UMaine system still has a physical presence in Waldo County with its 4H Camp and Learning Center in Lincolnville, and that no students have been on the Belfast campus in years.

“Since 2020, there have been no degree-seeking students in person at the Hutchinson Center, and I want to be very clear that this is not because the university has not tried hard enough,” she said.

UMaine offered associate degree and certificate programs at the Hutchinson Center in 2021 that were “uniquely relevant to the region’s workforce,” and no one signed up, Warren said. But that same year, 600 people signed up for online programs.

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