TURNER – The old school rooms that housed the Turner Center for the Arts are almost empty again.

Most of the art – paintings, photographs, sculpture and furniture – has been returned to the artists. On Tuesday, only a few of the bigger pieces remained alongside stacks of posters for old exhibits.

“We’re trying to go forward,” said Eva Leavitt, Turner’s town manager.

Townspeople voted on April 5 to disband the center.

Finding someone else to fill the space on the second floor of the old Leavitt Institute Building might be tough. The town-owned building sits adjacent to school property owned by School Administrative District 52.

Lots of everyday uses are banned: no sales of cigarettes or alcohol, no adult video store. Tenants can’t produce a lot of traffic and are allotted only six parking spaces. And the school district must accept any tenant before the space can be rented.

Ralph Caldwell, chairman of the Leavitt Institute Building Committee, is optimistic, though.

The space can be rented by a single entity or by several, he said. It might be used as office space or a site for music lessons. An agreement might happen for as little as 200 square feet or as much as 3,000, he said

“It’s a very wide range,” he said. And the price is negotiable, depending on who moves in, he said.

The art center was ideal, he said. The problem was that it couldn’t pay the agreed-upon rent.

The Leavitt Institute Building Committee wanted $1,000 per month for the space in its first year and $1,250 after that. The center fell behind.

“It wasn’t that I didn’t want them there, because I did,” Caldwell said. Along with the town historical museum and the public library on the upper floors, the art center helped create a “wonderful blend.”

No one has yet approached the town about renting the space, though there may be informal talks with selectmen, Town Manager Leavitt said.

Meanwhile, some of the art still needs to be removed and the sometimes-bitter struggle to keep the center open needs healing, she said.

A group of local artists has gathered to return the works as well as loaned fixtures and tools. There are also a few grants to be returned, including $2,000 from the Maine Community Foundation that was meant to fund an art show.

Some bitterness remains. A hand-written sign on the Leavitt Institute door told contributing artists that they would be contacted. The sign declared: “Turner Center for the Arts is CLOSED!”