Proposal to redevelop Bucksport seminary moves forward
Orrington contractor Dick Campbell, who also is a Republican state representative, received an extension from the Bucksport Town Council to develop a plan and find investors for the redevelopment of a historic seminary in Bucksport into an elder care facility.
“We have probably three sources of financing that have expressed an interest in [backing] the project, once they review the business plan and we have identified a service provider,” Campbell told the Bangor Daily News. But Town Manager Sue Lessard told the newspaper that many people feel the building should be razed to make way for a park or other good use.
Last November, the Bangor Daily News reported the council gave Campbell five months plus an option for two three-month extensions to plan the seminary’s revitalization, which has been derelict for more than 20 years. Campbell’s plan is to create a boutique health care and live-in rehabilitation facility for the elderly.
The historic Methodist seminary, called Wilson Hall and located on Franklin Street, was built in 1850-51 by the Eastern Maine Methodist Conference, housed the only Methodist seminary in eastern Maine and was the only seminary in Hancock County, according to Wikipedia. The Greek Revival structure was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. The building is a two-story gable-roofed structure, with a two-stage square belfry at the center of the roof ridge.
Operating as Dick Campbell LLC, Campbell performs new residential, commercial and recreational construction, as well as remodeling and reuse, according to his website. Projects have included renovation of the Underwood Factory, a former sardine cannery in Bass Harbor, into a luxury eight-unit condominium.
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