SOUTH PORTLAND (AP) – The Maine Mall, the state’s retail hub, is up for sale.

The mall, which 32 years ago transformed a quiet section of South Portland into southern Maine’s retail hub, is likely to generate a lot of interest, according to Craig Schmidt, a vice president of Merrill Lynch who specializes in retail real estate.

Schmidt said the mall could be worth as much as $250 million because retail real estate produces a stable cash flow at a time when other investments, such as stocks, remain speculative and risky.

“High-producing, well-occupied, dominant properties are very hot,” he said.

The mall’s 1.2 million square feet of retail space produce annual sales of $465 per square foot, said David Faulkner, the mall’s general manager. That is 40 percent above the national average of $330 per square foot, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers.

The mall is 98 percent filled and remains the dominant retail spot in the state despite competing stores around the mall such as the 387,000-square-foot Maine Crossing center Target.

Shoppers are not likely to see any immediate impact from a sale of the mall, because the stores have leases that guarantee them space in the short term and the new owner is unlikely to make wholesale changes to a successful formula.

The mall draws more than 10.6 million shoppers a year.

The mall started with a stand-alone Jordan Marsh store in 1969, built in the middle of what had been woods and a pig farm. It expanded to an enclosed mall on 65 acres two years later. It has had subsequent expansions and major renovations over the years, including an addition in 1983, three years after S.R. Weiner purchased the property.

When the mall changes hands, the transaction is likely to be one of the largest real estate sales in Maine history.

S.R. Weiner, which owns 25 percent of the mall. The other owners are Cigna Insurance, which owns 37.5 percent, and the New York State Teachers Retirement System, which owns the other 37.5 percent.