LIVERMORE FALLS — Selectmen voted Monday to support a grant application for Franklin Memorial Hospital to buy the Lamb Block on Depot Street and renovate it, Town Manager Kristal Flagg said Tuesday.

Several people attended a hearing on the proposed application for up to $400,000 to the Communities for Maine’s Future grant, which is part of a state bond program. If the grant is received, a health clinic would be go on the third floor.

The town would act as fiscal agent for the project as it is for the hospital’s new medical arts center. FMH received a $350,000 grant for that project to offset construction costs. The center will be located on Main Street, in back of the Lamb Block, which is owned by Kenny Jacques of Livermore Falls.

Developers Collaborative of Portland and the Farmington hospital are working on construction of the hospital’s medical arts building on Main Street, and are also working together on the new grant application for Lamb Block.

The hospital would have to commit to match the Future’s grant, developer Kevin Bunker of Developers Collaborative said Monday.

The hospital took an option on the Jacques’ building when it took an option on the former vacant mall that was previously connected to the Chuck Wagon Restaurant, he said. The mall was torn down last week and will be the site of the new medical arts building.

The hospital decided it did not need the Lamb Block, Bunker said, but then the grant opportunity came up.

The building, built in the 1880s, is the oldest one downtown, he said.

HealthReach Community Health Center, a nonprofit Maine organization, and the hospital have a good synergy going, Bunker said. The two have adjacent sites at the Central Plaza in Livermore Falls but once the new medical building is finished, FMH’s services will move there.

HealthReach likes being next to the hospital’s services, Bunker said. The agency’s patients can go next door and get blood work done or X-rays, among other services, he said.

Clinic space would potentially be rented out to HealthReach, he said.

There would be a three-story addition built, attached to the Lamb Block, where the current office of Group Adams Propane is located, to house an elevator and stairway.

The proposed floor plan of the clinic includes six examination rooms and offices.

The two bottom floors in the building would be retail space to be rented out.

The building would remain on the town’s tax rolls, Bunker said.

The medical arts center and the Lamb Block would not be physically connected, he said.

Renovations would include new mechanical and heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, a lot of exterior brickwork, bringing the building up to code, and adding a lot of structural steel. New windows would be installed that match the historical character of the building.

There probably would not be much renovation work done on the first two floors until a tenant is interested, Bunker said.

In the open space between the Chuck Wagon Restaurant building and the Jacques building, a small park would be created.

The grant application is due by July 1.

The hospital and developers have not ruled out applying for historical preservation tax credits and will try to preserve as much of the original Lamb Block as possible, Bunker said.

One condition of the grant is to not adversely affect the historic property.

Bunker said he expects to hear in four to six weeks if the hospital receives the grant. If there is no grant, the project would not move forward, he said.

Several people spoke in favor of the project during the hearing.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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