BRUNSWICK

Demolition of the former municipal offices and recreation center on Federal Street is now underway. Clearing the buildings will make way for Coastal Enterprises Inc.’s new offices.

The buildings at 28 and 30 Federal St. will be replaced by a two-story, 21,780-squarefoot office building.

CEI Director of Public Housing John Egan said construction of the new building will start in September, immediately after demolition is completed. Construction is expected to be finished by the end of June 2015, said Egan, and CEI staff are expected to be “in the building” the following month.

Brunswick Town Clerk Fran Smith wasn’t too sentimental about the former municipal offices, which were cramped and outdated.

“It’s nice to have adequate space,” said Smith, referring to the new offices and conference rooms on the first two floors of the former McLellan Building on Union Street, which the town received in a trade with Bowdoin College.

The former offices had one conference room. The new town hall has three, in addition to the council chambers.

Smith noted that the town now has the ability to record multiple meetings simultaneously for public viewing.

A lot of public records, including election information, were kept off-site due to space constraints.

The new town hall hasn’t been without controversy, due to the skyrocketing cost estimates of converting the building’s open-office plan. Early estimates on the cost of rehabilitating the former McLellan were between $100,000-$200,000 in 2011, a figure that has grown to an estimated at $1.2 million.

CEI’s planned building also generated controversy from neighbors concerned that the building was too big and that it didn’t conform with the historic, federal architecture of many of the existing homes and buildings in the neighborhood.

However, the municipal offices and quonset hut-style rec center were also a far cry from conforming to the neighborhood’s architecture.

“They worked so hard to be accommodating in planning their building,” said Deb King, executive director of the Brunswick Downtown Association, which has supported CEI’s move to Federal Street.

King said CEI’s expertise in business development and assisting entrepreneurs will be a boon to the community.

CEI, a private, nonprofit community development corporation, is consolidating its Portland and Wiscasset offices in Brunswick, bringing as many as 60 to 70 new jobs.

“That they chose Brunswick bodes well,” said King. “BDA is fully supportive of their mission and their relocation to our fabulous downtown.”

Less controversially, two 120-year-old porcelain doll heads imbedded in the former exterior municipal building wall were removed prior to demolition.

Three doll heads were placed in the brickwork of the town hall that once sat on Maine Street during that building’s construction in 1883. Two of the three doll heads remained when the town offices were moved to the Federal Street building in 1960.

“We have gotten the doll heads!” Smith said.

“At some point, we will figure out how they will be properly displayed inside this building,” Smith said, referring to the new town hall.

The bell and weathervane from the Federal Street building will also be preserved, said Smith.

jswinconeck@timesrecord.com

CEI, A PRIVATE, nonprofit community development corporation, is consolidating its Portland and Wiscasset offices in Brunswick, bringing as many as 60 to 70 new jobs.