If all goes smoothly, Androscoggin County will have a new public safety building at 1450 Lisbon St. in Lewiston after the county closes on its $1.4 million offer in August.

The building, now occupied by Maine Public, a PBS affiliate, has nearly 29,000 square feet of space. Sheriff Eric Samson said previously that’s plenty to house the sheriff’s operations, including the regional communications center.

The new building is under contract for $1.4 million, county Administrator Jeff Chute told commissioners Wednesday night. The hope is to close on it in August, he said.

Commissioners voted 5-1 Wednesday to set aside $1.5 million for renovations to the building to meet the needs of a public safety facility.

The Lisbon Street property was on the market for $1.25 million. At least one other business was interested in the site, officials said.

The sheriff’s office and Regional Communications Center are currently at the Androscoggin County Building at 2 Turner St. in Auburn. The building is about 170 years old and has its share of issues, including elevated fungal counts that led deputies to move upstairs.

In 2022, using a federal grant, the county purchased the former Evergreen Subaru building on Center Street in Auburn and several surrounding properties for $4.5 million as a potential new home for the Sheriff’s Office.

After spending $200,000 on surveys and engineering designs, the commission balked at moving forward with the plan, rejecting a proposed $29 million bond last year to renovate the building as too expensive.

In February, the majority of commissioners declared that a revised $26 million project on the site was still too high.

Commissioners voted in June to put the properties on the market. Chute updated commissioners that one of the building on the site at 800 Center St. is under contract with John F. Murphy Homes, which is located there. The county has let the nonprofit reside there without paying rent since the purchase.

He said he expects to close on that property by the end of July.

A vacant house at 1079 Turner St. is on the market for $299,000, Chute said.

The former Evergreen Subaru dealership at 774 Center St. remains for sale.

On the 5-1 tally to set aside $1.5 million for renovations to the Maine Public building, Jane Pentheny of Poland, chairperson of the county commissioners’ board, opposed the vote. Vice Chair Andrew Lewis of Auburn, Brian Ames of Lewiston, Roland Poirier of Lewiston, Garrett Mason of Lisbon Falls, and Shukri Abdirahman of Lewiston voted in favor. Sally Christenson of Turner left the meeting early.

Rich Schneider, president and CEO of Maine Public, said Thursday that the decision to sell the building came while the organization was seeking efficiencies following the elimination of federal funding in July.

The Lewiston building housed offices and a television studio. Maine Public also has a studio at its Bangor offices.

Maine Public is close to completing work on a new facility in the former Portland Public Market, a state-of-the-art facility, Schneider said, which will replace the rented offices and radio studio in Portland.

The sale of the Lewiston building is an opportunity to see the space used for public good, he said.

“Maine Public will continue to serve Lewiston with public television and radio and will continue to cover Lewiston as a news market,” he said. “We will explore whether to maintain a smaller physical space.”