OXFORD — After failing to auction off a mill property’s marina last October, Norway Savings Bank has sold the parcel to an Auburn businessman.

Jim Pittman completed the purchase about a week ago, according to Rodney Smith, code enforcement officer for Oxford. Smith said the town was not involved in the sale because the bank has held the property since the auction.

“It was supposed to be auctioned off again and it never got that far,” he said.

Larry Moreau, general manager for Pittman’s property development, said Pittman owns Jim’s Auto Sales on Center Street in Auburn as well as a number of other commercial and residential properties in Lewiston and Auburn. Pittman also owns the VIP Parts, Tires and Service and Oxford Networks buildings in Norway.

“We just think it’s an excellent opportunity,” Moreau said of the marina property.

The marina is located on King Street adjacent to the Robinson Mill, a textile manufacturing facility that operated from 1849 to 2004. Last year, the town foreclosed on the mill for nonpayment of $244,920 in taxes over the course of three years. The town entered into a land installment contract with John C. Robinson, a Republican state legislator and sixth-generation member of the mill family, to pay a $162,970.88 lien by March to bring the property out of automatic foreclosure.

The Board of Selectmen voted 3-2 in October to take over the 7.5-acre mill property after Robinson failed to make an $80,000 scheduled payment that month. Robinson separated the 4-acre marina property from the mill in 2008 and sought to sell it and other properties to meet the payment obligations, but was unsuccessful.

George Schott, owner of the Auburn Mall, bid $150,000 for the property at the auction. He declined to raise the bank’s bid of $175,000, saying the marina was “off the beaten path” and too close to the mill. Norway Savings Bank increased its bid to $250,000 and took control of the property.

Moreau and a representative from Norway Savings Bank declined to identify how much the property sold for, and the Oxford County Registry of Deeds had no record of the sale as of Tuesday. The town assessed the property’s value at $372,000 last year.

The marina has 32 slips, 570 feet of frontage on Thompson Lake, and a 5,000-gallon underground storage tank. It also has three buildings, the largest of which is a 28,898-square-foot warehouse.

Moreau said the slips and fuel pump will be reactivated next Saturday, and that Pittman plans on allowing rentals. The warehouse formerly included vehicle storage, and owners were asked to remove them after the bank took possession of the marina. Moreau said he is unsure whether vehicle storage will resume.

“We want to keep our options open,” he said. “Having purchased it only a week ago, we’re not sure what the future use will be.”

Moreau said Pittman is currently not interested in purchasing the mill property.

“I think whoever purchases the other part of the mill, it’s going to take a lot of resources to wind up with a property that’s going to work and it’s just something we’d rather not commit to at this point in time,” he said.

mlangeveld@sunjournal.com

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