BELFAST, Maine — The imposing brick Crosby School, a three-story building located in the heart of Belfast, will be put on the auction block at the beginning of December.
The minimum bid for the long-vacant structure has been set at $400,000, according to Tranzon Auction, which is handling the sale for the owner, the National Theatre Workshop for the Handicapped.
“I’m really pretty positive,” Tom Saturley, president of the Portland-based auction company, said last week. “We’ve just started the campaign this week and we’re already hearing from developers, we’re hearing from nonprofits, we’re hearing from a variety of different users. Our phones are ringing, as far as the Crosby School is concerned.”
News of the impending auction came just weeks after Waterville developer Paul Boghossian dropped his option to purchase the building and renovate it into apartments, citing a discouraging environmental assessment as a reason why.
Last month, an environmental report by Portland-based Ransom Consulting indicated that the company found hazardous materials including asbestos, lead paint, universal wastes and mold on the property. The Crosby School was closed in 1991 by School Administrative District 34 because of persistent complaints of headache, dizziness and sore throats by students and teachers. A battery of tests done at that time found high levels of mold spores, carbon dioxide and various organic compounds in the air, according to BDN archives.
The school, which was built in 1923, was featured in the 1957 movie “Peyton Place.” A few years after it was closed, the city sold it for $200,000 to the National Theatre Workshop for the Handicapped. The New York City-based organization reportedly spent $3.5 million to add theaters, lounges, apartments and elevators to the building, and for several summers the new owners added life and activity to Belfast.
But the theater group changed its focus and largely vacated the school, which was put up for sale in 2013. Last year, it was listed at nearly $2 million, and the land and building most recently were assessed by the city at $2.7 million. The property is under contract rezoning, according to Belfast Assistant City Planner Sadie Lloyd. That means there is more flexibility and a greater number of allowed uses for the property, she said, and the property owner will need to work closely with the Belfast Planning Board and the Belfast City Council to determine that use.
Belfast City Councilor Mike Hurley said that he has heard people say the best thing to do with the building is to tear it down, but he doesn’t agree.
“I’d like to see it exactly as it was proposed for. Market-rate housing would be fantastic in that location,” he said. “Belfast is doing so well, you’d like to think somebody can make this thing work.”
Saturley said that the Crosby School will need a special kind of purchaser.
“Someone who can make the most of the positives and who can get beyond those kinds of issues, which you’re going to find of a building of this age and ilk,” he said, adding that Tranzon is committed to being transparent about the property information. “These are known facts. This is a process that allows people to take a good, hard look.”
Two open houses have been scheduled for the Crosby School, from 10 to 11 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 12, and Wednesday, Nov. 18. The auction will begin at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 2, at the Crosby School.