WESTBROOK – The long-discussed sale of Westbrook City Hall, as well as the sale of the now-vacant Prides Corner Elementary School, is moving closer to reality, but not before the public gets a chance to weigh in on one of the proposed transactions.
The City Council voted 5-0 (councilors Dotty Aube and Paul Emery absent) Oct. 15 to preliminarily award the rights to list and market City Hall and its surrounding property at 2 York St. to CBRE | The Boulos Co. of Portland. It gave Malone Commercial Brokers of Portland the rights to list and market the Prides Corner school property at 375 Pride St. According to the proposals, both Boulos and Malone would receive a 7 percent commission on the sale of the properties.
The award of rights will not be final and the marketing of the properties would not begin until the council holds a second and final vote on the matter at its next scheduled meeting, Monday, Nov. 5.
Westbrook City Administrator Jerre Bryant said the city decided to split the marketing of the properties after considering both proposals and liking them both, adding that Boulos only submitted a proposal for City Hall, while Malone had included both properties.
“We got two great proposals from two great firms,” Bryant said. “They are both highly qualified firms.”
On Tuesday, Oct. 30, Councilor Mike Sanphy and Mayor Colleen Hilton will meet with residents to discuss the future of the school property. The meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Prides Corner Church hall.
Bryant said the city is not going to hold a similar public meeting about the sale of the City Hall property. He said the administration wants public input about the reuse of the Prides Corner property because of the many homes abutting the former school, something that is not the case with City Hall.
The city originally publicly advertised for real estate services on each property on Aug. 27 and did not receive any proposals by the Sept. 14 deadline. Westbrook officials then decided to solicit proposals from three commercial brokers and received two responses, including estimated property value and marketing strategies from the firms.
Westbrook’s original request for proposals lists the former Prides Corner facility as a 30,000-square-foot building on 9 acres of land with an assessed value of $2.2 million.
The school came into the city’s possession after the school department closed it last summer as part of a district-wide realignment that moved fifth-graders to the middle school and shifted Prides Corner students into the three remaining elementary schools in the city. The school department also did not want to invest in the expensive renovations the building needed.
In 2009, when students moved to the new Westbrook Middle School, Wescott Junior High School also became city property. The building is now home to the Westbrook Community Center, and is named the Fred C. Wescott building.
City officials believe that there is ample room in the Wescott building for City Hall offices under the same roof. Such a move would then allow the city to sell the more marketable City Hall property on York Street. City officials say the16,000-square-foot building on a 4.68-acre lot has an assessed value of $1.9 million. The building was once home to York Insurance Co., and in 1996, City Hall moved in.
Bryant said a new City Hall location has not yet been finalized. While the most likely spot would be the Westbrook Community Center, as that would make the most financial sense, the city is open to exploring other potential locations.
“We continue to look at other options, but the community center remains the leading contender,” Bryant said.
Writer Matt Soucy also contributed to this story.
The vacant Prides Corner Elementary School has an assessed value of $2.2 million.
Westbrook City Hall has an assessed value of $1.9 million.
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