AUGUSTA — State officials are seeking a developer to purchase the former Department of Transportation maintenance garage on Capitol Street, tear it down, and replace it with an 89,000-square-foot office building that the state would then lease back to provide space for two state agencies.

The proposal is the state’s latest effort to get rid of the eight-building property at 109 Capitol St., vacant since October 2014, when the DOT moved its maintenance operations located there for decades to a new facility in north Augusta at 66 Industrial Drive.

The former Department of Transportation complex on Capitol Street in Augusta is for sale, and the state is looking for a developer to clear the site and build a new state office building. Andy Molloy/Kennebec Journal

The state is seeking bidders to buy the former Maine Department of Transportation maintenance complex on Capitol Street in Augusta, tear it down and build at least 89,000 square feet of office space for state workers. Andy Molloy/Kennebec Journal

At the same time, officials said, the state hopes to replace some aging Department of Health and Human Services office space, including its main office at 221 State St. It also hopes to find new space for the Department of Administrative and Financial Services.

“Our proposal provides investors and developers with a long-term revenue stream that ensures the immediate redevelopment of this site,” said David Heidrich, spokesman for the Department of Administrative and Financial Services. “For the city, it redevelops a prominent site that is no longer being utilized and returns the property to the tax rolls. From the state’s perspective, it allows us to meet our future space needs while continuing to strike the right balance between leasing and owning property in Augusta.”

Heidrich said most of the state workers who would move to the proposed new building would come from the State Street headquarters of DHHS, which he said is a dated facility that has reached the end of its useful life.

However, workers at the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention would also be relocated to the facility from their current offices at Key Plaza, a prominent downtown Augusta location.

The state’s lease for 58,000 square feet of space in Key Plaza expires in June 2018.

Information included in the packet of materials provided to companies interested in submitting their qualifications for the project includes an office plan that indicates space would be needed for 689 state workers. Included in that total are 280 CDC employees now primarily based at Key Plaza at 286 Water St.

Heidrich said that doesn’t mean the state may not move workers from other departments into that space if it can negotiate a new lease. “However, any renewal would be contingent upon negotiating a favorable lease for the space they have to offer,” he said.

City Manager William Bridgeo said it remains a concern of the city that, in occupying the proposed new office space, the state would move workers from leased space downtown at Key Plaza, and that space could go unoccupied.

“That wouldn’t be healthy for the revitalization of our downtown,” Bridgeo said.

On the plus side, Bridgeo said it would be great to have the property return to the property tax rolls. State-owned property is exempt from local property taxes.

Bridgeo, who declined to comment about specifics because he had not yet seen the state’s proposal for the property, said the roughly 90,000-square-foot project would have a less dramatic impact on the city than the previous proposal for a new 225,000-square-foot office facility.

The deadline for prospective developers to respond to the state with a letter of interest and a nonrefundable fee of $100 is Sept. 28, with a full response to the request for proposals due by Oct. 27.

The developer selected for the project would be required to construct a new office building to lease to the state within two years. The state is looking to occupy the building by July 2019.

Related Stories