A local businessman will take over the former Sabattus Primary School, with a plan to use it as a community center and office space.

The Select Board on Tuesday accepted a $200,000 bid from Roger Brault of RCM Mobile Home Sales & Services.

Brault said Wednesday that the building will be known as the Sabattus Event Center. He wants it to be a community meeting place that can also host youth sports camps and events out of the school’s gymnasium and ballfield. He plans to lease space for the Sabattus Historical Society, and the classrooms will be converted into office space for new and existing businesses.

Plans also call for repurposing the school’s playground area as a place for birthday parties, community events and gatherings, while continuing to maintain the community garden. Brault also is looking to renovate the school’s library into a fitness center, as well as add a new library and a laundromat — services he believes will benefit the community.

The plans are fluid, Brault said, with nothing finalized yet.

“My vision is to give this building a new life instead of having it sit unused,” Brault said in a letter accompanying his bid.

Brault hopes to start renovations on the property within the next two to three months. He is aiming to have the Sabattus Event Center up and running by early 2027.

“I’m excited to see how this project is going to unfold and really help benefit the community,” Brault said Wednesday.

The Sabattus Primary School closed last year and the town took ownership of the property. Residents voted on June 4 to sell the school.

A group of residents who wanted to buy the property and turn it into a community center fell short on fundraising and ended that effort.

They and other residents hope that the property can be used in a way that revitalizes the neighborhood.

The Select Board voted 4-0 to sell the property to Brault. The board also voted Tuesday night to add an amendment in the deed that will prohibit the school from being converted into housing.

Besides Brault, the only other bid for the property came from Select Board member Noel Hinkley, who recused herself from the vote on the sale.

Hinkley bid $147,321.89 with the intent of moving her business, Smiley’s Daycare & Preschool, into the former school, with the goal of growing the businesses’ before- and after-school programming.

On top of providing a place for community events, she also wanted to expand services for homeschooling families by providing educational support, co-op opportunities and extracurricular activities.

“As someone with several homeschooled nieces and nephews, I understand the value of providing a safe space for children where they can learn, socialize and participate in community activities,” Hinkley’s letter to the board said.