Parties involved in the process of selling Linnhaven Mobile Home Park to a resident cooperative gathered Thursday, Oct. 10, to close the deal. Courtesy of Thomas Benoit

Tucked away from the bustle of downtown Brunswick, a 50-acre plot along Maquoit Road is home to 300 residential units. Now, those residents are among a growing number of resident-owned cooperative communities in Maine thanks to a new law passed last year.

Residents finalized the purchased of their park, Linnhaven Mobile Home Center, on Thursday, just under a year after the former owner notified tenants that he intended to sell. The process, two residents say, was a culmination of community effort and resources found in Brunswick and through the state.

“It feels fantastic, but sort of surreal at the same time,” park resident and board member Thomas Benoit said after the closing.

A Maine law that went into effect a year ago requires park owners to give a 60-day notice to tenants and the Maine State Housing Authority if they intend to sell. Under this law, the park owner is also required to consider “good-faith” offers from residents if a majority of residents sign a petition or indicate in writing that they support an offer to purchase. Residents then get 90 days to come up with financing to purchase the park.

Former owners of the park, Kurt Scarponi and his family, notified tenants in a letter postmarked Nov. 1, 2023, announcing an end to nearly 70 years of family ownership. The move to sell came after Kurt’s brother, Kitt, died, though he noted in earlier reporting that the family had considered selling for four or five years. He hoped to sell the land so he could retire.

Nearly a year of effort

For Janet Fournier, the board president of Blueberry Fields Cooperative — the group formed to purchase the property — said that the concept of owning the park was first sparked when she moved in.

The quiet, peaceful and clean neighborhood, which is a stone’s throw away from Maquoit Bay and minutes from downtown Brunswick, drew Fournier in after researching a “crazy” real estate market to find affordable living.

“When I moved here, I moved here because it was affordable,” she said. “And I wanted it to stay that way.”

When she finally moved in last August, she quickly found out that the owner planned to sell. She began having conversations with the owner, friends and, eventually, with the Cooperative Development Institute (CDI), a nonprofit with a mission to creative and sustain cooperative enterprises, to learn what the options were.

After notice was given, meeting about the sale was held with residents in February, where CDI presented and revealed that purchasing the property was more financially feasible than many had thought. For instance, an out-of-pocket investment was not necessary, as there were forgivable loans to cover “pre-development” costs prior to finalizing a purchase.

Linnhaven Mobile Home Center in Brunswick.  Luna Soley / The Times Record file photo

“And at that point, I just thought, ‘We can do this,’ ” Fournier said. “… We knew in that meeting that if we move forward with this process that we, as individuals, didn’t have anything to lose.”

Park resident Thomas Benoit, the board’s vice president, said he attended this meeting originally out of concern for himself and his wife. However, once he got there and heard people’s stories, it was clear how the risk of an outside company — possibly one that was for-profit — could negatively impact the community. Aside from concerns of increased rent, there was a risk of being asked to leave so a new owner could develop. Benoit quickly became involved with efforts to buy the land.

By March, the owner disclosed an out-of-state offer of $26.25 million for the park. Residents circled back with $26.3 million and ultimately signed a purchase and sales agreement with Scarponi on June 3.

“Leading up to that, we had to get the majority of the people in the park to sign a petition saying that they would be in agreement with us forming a cooperative,” Fournier  said. “And within seven days we got well over the 51%.”

To secure funding to buy the property, she said Maine Housing is lending the residents $20.6 million — a majority of the cost to buy. The Genesis Fund, a Brunswick-based charity, pitched in just over $3 million.

Grant funding was also pivotal in making the deal successful. Back in March, Gov. Janet Mills’ office put through a $5 million grant for mobile home community preservation, of which the cooperative was awarded $3 million. The group additionally secured $200,000 for rent reserves from Maine Housing, $300,000 from the Genesis Fund for maintenance of the property and $800,000 from the Town of Brunswick, $100,000 of which is to offset property tax increases.

While the cooperative takeover of the park stabilized housing for the community, Fournier said that a some form of rent increase was inevitable given the price tag of the purchase. Initial estimates put rent increase at $250 a month on top of base rent. But with all these funding sources, residents will not see nearly as high as an increase as anticipated.

“There are so many communities here that are becoming mobile home parks, but they’re becoming unaffordable,” Benoit said. “I mean, like, Bay Bridge [Mobile Home Park in Brunswick], they’re up to $800 a month now, and have water and sewer. I mean, that’s crazy for affordable housing.”

But what may been even more stabilizing for residents is the perpetual lease. If they pay rents and abide by park rules, residents won’t be pushed out anytime soon.

“This addresses a long-term problem — that is really important to the story. It’s a long-term fix,” Fournier said. “The leases that folks are going to sign here are not a month-to-month, they’re not an annual lease — they’re perpetual.”

Culmination of positivity and community effort

As for what’s next, Fournier said that the term “it takes a village” will really come into play.

While residents prepare for a celebration next week — which entities and people that assisted with the purchase will attend, including Mills — the long-term focus is to keep standards up and rents down while maintaining the property.

“Many of us moved here because of the standards,” Fournier said. “… We’re here to survive in a democratic fashion, we have to honor what the people want, but we also have to insist on maintaining the standard.”

Bylaws for the park are already set, while Benoit and Fournier said that developing community rules will be next on the task list with the purchase done. Benoit said that he suspects that they will base rules on Scarponi’s with possible modifications. He also said there will be a property management company for the park to help maintain the cleanliness and enforce the rules.

But Fournier notes that a major takeaway from the purchase is the persistence of community values and hope. She recalled back in the spring that once the purchase and sale agreement was signed with Scarponi, she tracked him down to shake his hand. Instead, she said, he pulled her into a bear hug.

She said he was helpful every step of the way and even pushed for community members to vote to become cooperative members. Benoit also said that the community has grown closer knit throughout the year-long affair.

“That’s been one of our themes around this whole process,” she said. ‘The power of positivity.”