BIDDEFORD — Three-quarters of the Biddeford Pool coastline will now be protected after the recent sale of property previously owned by the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary in the United States.

Biddeford Pool Land Trust closed Sept. 29 on the 23-acre site, which includes the Marie Joseph Spiritual Center at 10 Evans Road, according to Christy Millet, board member of both BPLT and Maine Coast Heritage Trust, which will hold the easement for what is now the Fletcher’s Neck Sanctuary.

The property sold for $9 million, which was raised in just six months, thanks to the generosity of 300 donors, Millet said during a phone interview. One of the conditions of the sale was that the site be restored to its natural state and a conservation easement be established on the property.

“The Sisters were adamant we restore the land,” Millet said. “And honestly, that’s what the community wanted.”

Around $11 million has been raised to date, Millet said, which means there is also enough money to demolish the retreat building.

“Unfortunately, it will have to come down,” said Millet, adding that Biddeford Codes Officer Roby Fecteau concurred with the Sisters that “there was way too much work to be done.”

The funds will also be used for stewardship and hiring a firm “to help restore the land to the best use,” Millet said.

The 850-foot long beach will continue to be accessible to the public for swimming, fishing and other recreational activities as part of a 2-mile stretch from Biddeford Pool to Fortune’s Rocks, she added. 

The ecologically significant wildlife habitat is between two adjacent conservation properties – the South Point Sanctuary and 8-acre Great Pond Nature Preserve, and close to the 30-acre East Point Sanctuary, according to a prepared release, and will mean expanded and nearly contiguous habitat for amphibians, invertebrates, fish, terrestrial creatures, and a range of migratory birds.

The new parcel of conservation land includes sand dunes bordered by freshwater wetlands and unique habitat for wildlife such as herons, egrets and Atlantic Piping Plovers, which have been listed as an endangered species in Maine since 1986.

“Maine’s southern coast has seen enormous development and recreational pressure over the last 130 years,” said Lucie Fontein, president of the Biddeford Pool Land Trust, in a press release. “With so few suitable places for wildlife to thrive, we’re energized by the rare opportunity to return this land to its natural state.”

After 45 years as a retreat center offering spiritual guidance to guests from across the country and world, the Marie Joseph Spiritual Center closed June 30. The center hosted days of recollection, retreats, and other interdenominational groups, according to an April 30 story in the Saco Bay News.

Sister Helene Cote, p.m., Provincial Superior of the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary in the United States, had previously estimated that upgrades and renovations to the Order’s building would have cost upwards of $1 million.

“The cost of these projects is significant, upwards of $1 million,” she said in an earlier release, “and financially it is not feasible.”

Sister Helene earlier said multiple factors led to what was described as a difficult and heartbreaking decision.

“When we first started the retreat center, the Sisters did everything, and now we are an aging community and are not able to do all we did.”

Other challenges were the age of the building, the high cost of maintenance, and the difficulty of finding contractors to make major repairs and upgrades to a building that is more than 120 years old.

Maine once had more than 30 miles of suitable nesting beaches that may have supported up to 200 pairs of piping plovers, according to information attributed to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife in the BLT release. New seawalls, piers, homes and other development have reduced suitable nesting habitat by more than 75%, and only around a dozen sites remain, IF&W officials said.

“It’s truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Millet said of the new acquisition, adding the speed in which the funds were donated was “amazing.”

Ann Fisher is a freelance writer based in Saco. She can be reached at 432-7483.