A Lewiston developer plans upscale homes on the former campus of Mid-State College in Auburn.
AUBURN
Contractors are demolishing the former Mid-State College campus, making room for a planned neighborhood of high-end condominiums.
Provider Financial, which bought the complex last fall for $510,000, plans to build between 100 and 200 upscale units on the property, located near the Maine Turnpike.
Each home would likely be sold for about $200,000, said Kevin Dean, the Lewiston-based company’s president.
“We’re going for the Portland market,” said Dean, highlighting the site’s easy access to Route 95. Each unit would likely have between 1,400 and 1,500 square feet and would include garages.
Details are uncertain, though. The developer is working on a site plan to take to the Auburn Planning Board, perhaps within six weeks.
With approvals, construction could start within six months, erasing the campus of the school that was there for 136 years.
The school opened in August 1867 as Dirigo Business College. The Auburn campus on East Hardscrabble Road was built in 1916 as the Auburn Maine School of Commerce. In 1977, it was renamed Mid-State Business School. It changed its name a final time five years later.
Mid-State College closed its doors last August, one week before classes were to begin. Many of its 200-plus students included former factory and mill workers.
In November, Provider Financial purchased the campus, its buildings and contents at auction.
Demolition at the site began Monday and is expected to be finished by the end of Wednesday.
Three of the five campus buildings, including the former administrative offices, will be razed. The two remaining structures, a classroom building and a former dormitory, will remain. One will become a development office.
Provider Financial has worked on developments throughout the region, including upscale condominiums in Portland’s Western Promenade and in Old Orchard Beach.
Comments are no longer available on this story