AUGUSTA – The state sold three houses and 5.2 acres next to the former Maine State Prison in Thomaston this month for $175,000 — $283,000 less than the assessed value — without marketing the property.

The buyer was Patricia Barnhart, warden of the Maine State Prison in nearby Warren, who now plans to develop a seven-lot subdivision.

Betty Lamoreau, acting director of the Maine Bureau of General Services, defended the sale Wednesday. She said properties across Maine have been selling for less than their assessed value and the state got the best deal it could, considering the unusual nature of the property.

“It was as good a deal as we have made with any of our properties,” she said.

Barnhart has lived in one of the three houses since the state hired her from Michigan in 2009 to run the state prison. Her contract calls for the state to provide her with free housing, a benefit enjoyed by previous wardens.

To help balance the two-year budget that began on July 1, 2009, the state has sold $1.5 million worth of surplus property over the last two years. The sale in Thomaston, which closed June 9, was part of that effort, Lamoreau said.

Selling the property to any other buyer would have left a shortfall in the Department of Corrections budget because the department would have been obligated to provide free housing for Barnhart elsewhere, Lamoreau said.

As a solution, she said, Barnhart agreed to buy the property.

Barnhart was paid a salary of $98,940 in 2010, according to state data obtained by the Maine Heritage Policy Center.

CBRE Boulos, the state’s broker for selling surplus real estate, negotiated “back and forth” with Barnhart before agreeing on a price, Lamoreau said.

The sale price was comparable with others in the area, she said, and the broker concluded that he couldn’t do any better selling the property on the open market.

In addition, she said, Barnhart agreed to lease one of the houses to the state for $1 a year for four years. The Department of Corrections houses trainee officers in that house.

The third house on the property is in poor condition, Lamoreau said.

The property on Ship Street Circle extends to the St. George River. A state-owned rail line crosses the property, separating the property’s road frontage from the shoreline.

The street is on the southern side of the former state prison, which was closed in 2002 when inmates were transferred to the new facility in Warren.

The property is assessed for taxes at about $458,000, said Town Manager Valmore Blastow Jr.

The Thomaston Planning Board will take up the subdivision proposal on July 12.

Barnhart could not be reached for comment Wednesday. The broker, Chris Paszyc, also could not be reached.

MaineToday Media State House Writer Tom Bell can be contacted at 699-6261 or at:

tbell@mainetoday.com