SACO — A former church purchased by the city to create a teen center could get go back on the market or get utilized for a different purpose.

In 2019, the city purchased the former School Street United Methodist Episcopal Church at the corner of School and Middle streets with the intent of renovating the building as a teen center. The downtown building was used as a church for more than 100 years and then as residential and studio space for over a decade.

A recent evaluation by Port City Architecture revealed the cost to bring the building up to code and functional as a teen center would be about $900,000 – three times the cost estimated in 2019. In light of the new cost estimate, the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board recommended the recreation department not move forward with plans to renovate the building as a teen center, and city staff has recommended the city sell it.

“The Board is disappointed as we had high hopes for 12 School Street and the addressing of a need for Saco teens to have a safe place for connection, study, and play. Unfortunately, it seems like the project is a victim of the pandemic due to timing. We are hoping that a portion of the amount initially allocated to the building can be used to grow a teen program to be ready when the next opportunity comes to house a teen center,” said Parks and Recreation Advisory Chairman Douglas Edwards in a letter to the City Council.

Parks and Recreation Director Ryan Sommer said at Monday night’s City Council meeting that since the purchase of the building, space has freed up at the Community Center on Franklin Street as it is no longer being used for Pre-K classes. Sommer has suggested hosting a modified teen program three evenings a week at the Franklin Street community center.

Sommer said if the program becomes popular enough to justify a move, he could ask the city for funding to rent space at a different location for about a year. He said his hope is that the city would keep the C.K. Burns School property after its replaced with a new school. The first floor could be used as a permanent home for the teen center, he said, and the top floors could be used for offices by the city or local non-profits or as workforce housing.

“My goal is not to stop creating a teen center,” he said, but to start in more of a grassroots direction, with first showing the need for the facility before ultimately moving it to Burns School, which has off street parking, a playground and an abutting park.

The City Council voted Monday to repurpose American Rescue Plan Act funds that were to be used toward renovating School Street and use existing capital funds for a smaller-scale teen center. The vote was six to one, with Michael Burman in opposition.

“The teen center is an absolutely critical piece of infrastructure for our community,” said Burman, as there was a lack of safe, supervised places for young people to gather in Saco. He said he thought it would be better to have the facility at a dedicated space for teen programs rather than have it in a building with other uses.

Sommer said that his plan included summer camp participants assisting in the build out of the teen center, so that local youth would buy-in to the facility.

Councilor Nathan Johnston said he was passionate about the project when the city first purchased the School Street building, but since then, there have been unforeseen events such as Covid and inflation.

“I do think that at this present time, utilizing that building for what it was originally envisioned just doesn’t make fiscal sense,” he said.

He said it was difficult to come to this realization, but there would be other opportunities to keep “the dream of a teen center alive.”

Johnston said he thought Burns School was “turnkey” for a teen center, and wouldn’t need some of the renovations the church building would need as it was ADA compliant and was equipped with adequate kitchen space. He also noted that the school was downtown, which was one of the reasons the church property had appealed to him.

There was consensus among councilors that there needed to be more discussion in the future on plans for the School Street building and whether the city should utilize it in a different way or sell it.  

Publisher Liz Gotthelf can be reached at newsdesk@sacobaynews.com.