AUBURN – The Lake Auburn Watershed Protection Commission has purchased the North Auburn Cash Market and 1.7 acres on two lots.

The real estate deal includes the store and lot and a second lot that is nearby, but not contiguous. The board will decide in six months whether the store, which closed Dec. 31, will be torn down.

Mary Jane Dillingham, water quality manager for Auburn and Lewiston, said it is a common practice to demolish buildings acquired from real-estate transactions that are located near Lake Auburn.

The area will remain open to fishing, but the boat launch across the road will not because that area of the lake is infested with variable leaf milfoil, Dillingham said. “It’s an important area to not allow boat access,” she said.

The commission had no immediate plans for the property. The group’s objective is to restore as much land as possible to a natural environment.

In other business:

• The commission discussed the demolition of two houses on Cottage Road, both located on small lots that were willed as life estates, where the owners could remain in their homes until their deaths. The owners of both lots died last year. The land where the houses are located will be re-vegetated.

• The commission discussed applying for accreditation with the Small Woodland Owners Association of Maine as a demonstration of the commission’s good forestry practices.