KENNEBUNK, Maine – The town is close to selling its vacant house at 15 Portland Road.
During a two-minute special meeting Monday, the Kennebunk Select Board voted 6-0-1 to authorize Town Manager Heather Balser to negotiate a purchase agreement for the home with an interested buyer, Croan M. McCormick.
The vote also gives Balser the authority to take the necessary steps to complete the sale, including signing all required documents.
The expected selling price is $420,000, which is $5,000 more than the price the property was offered for on the real estate market.
Balser said the money raised from the sale will go into the city’s general fund. She called the upcoming sale a “positive step for everyone involved.”
“The new owner has the opportunity to make much-needed improvements and return the property to its former character,” Balser said. “In addition, the property is a prominent residence that will contribute to our historic district. The sale will also return the property to the city’s tax rolls.”
The city purchased the 1820 house and the surrounding 5 acres in the fall of 2019 for $765,000. Earlier this year, voters approved spending up to $825,000 to purchase and improve the property.
According to a market assessment conducted in 2023, the cost to renovate the home and make it habitable is estimated at $360,000 to $500,000.
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A 2023 investigation found that the building, which has been vacant since 2015, contains asbestos and lead. The investigation also found that the rooms are dilapidated and the electrical panels are faulty and dangerous.
Efforts to sell the house began in 2020 after voters approved the city to explore selling the house and other parts of the 2-acre property to raise revenue to cover economic shortfalls created by the pandemic.
The house sits on less than an acre of land. After the sale, the town will still have 4 acres of open space that can be considered for construction of new municipal buildings in the future, Select Board Chair Miriam Whitehouse said in an interview after Monday’s meeting.
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Whitehouse said the city will have an easement allowing access from Portland Road to the property behind the house.
According to Whitehouse, Kathy Ostrander Roberts of Aland Realty Group served as the agent for the property.
Whitehouse said the city acquired the house nearly five years ago as part of the property purchase, but never intended to renovate it for any municipal use. The building is in the city’s Historic Preservation Overlay District and therefore cannot be demolished or significantly altered.
“Someone will fix it and we’ll get some of the price back,” she said. “That’s always a good thing.”
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