OXFORD - The vacant Burlington Homes manufacturing plant on Route 26 will go on the auction block next Thursday.

The sale is set for May 22 beginning at 11 a.m. at the 620 Main St. site.

"We have some interested buyers," Steve Keenan said Thursday as he and several associates from Keenan Auction Co. of South Portland prepared for next week's auction.

Although he could not name the parties, Keenan said several have already toured the facility and may be interested in buying it to resurrect a manufactured housing business.

Keenan said the auction will be a secured party sale, which means the buyers will not be named.

The building and land will be auctioned separately from the equipment and inventory, Keenan said. The building is valued at $1.4 million by the town and it and the land are owned by Burlington Associates, which Keenan said has no relation to Burlington Homes. The inventory is owned by TD Banknorth.

Citing lack of business and the poor economy, the factory closed in February after 14 years in operation and left some 70 workers unemployed. Operations ceased in December. The area has been hit with several manufacturing plant closures over the past year, including Oxford Homes on Route 26, which closed its doors last month in what officials called a temporary move.

The 77,000-square-foot main plant and 4,100-square-foot office area at Burlington Homes sit on 13.5 acres. The real estate includes a 28- by 44-foot modular classroom and two storage buildings. The equipment includes forklifts, transport trailers, trailer building material, interior and exterior doors, Sheetrock, insulation, particle board and plywood and other building and office equipment and more than $600,000 in new building materials.

Keenan said interested parties may preview the site at 8 a.m. auction day, May 22.