BELGRADE — Two years after the Town of Belgrade moved its municipal office to a new building, the Select Board will consider reducing the price — again — for the former town office property at 6 Manchester Road.

Currently listed by Day’s Real Estate for $110,000 as a commercial office, the 36-foot by 36-foot building that previously housed the Pine Restaurant, was erected about 1960. It sits on a quarter-acre at the intersection of Manchester Road and Route 27.

The proposal is to reduce the price as recommended by the real estate agent, who said it would increase buyer interest. Town Manager Dennis Keschl is recommended a reduction to $95,000. He noted that an offer of $55,000 had been rejected.

Selectmen will weigh in on it at their regular meeting which begins at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the newer Belgrade Town Office.

Rick Damren, chairman of the selectmen, said sales price has been reduced several times. In October of 2016, it was priced at $155,000. “We started off somewhere around $200,000,” he recalled.

Any money from the sale is to be used to defray the cost of the new building, which eventually totaled more than $1.4 million.

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In June 2016 as municipal workers helped empty the former Town Office, black-and-white framed photos on the wall showed scenes from the restaurant days when it offered “Fried Foods, Bar-BQ Foods” and “Schlitz.” An interior view showed stools at counters and booths along the wall.

Those walls retain vintage ’70s paneling.

At one point, the Belgrade/Rome Special Needs Food Pantry operated out of the basement.

The pantry was relocated to the North Belgrade Community Center in late October 2015.

In other business Monday, the board also will consider a proposal to make the side entrance to the Town Office — which is used to access the polls during voting — handicapped-accessible. Keschl noted that extending a sidewalk and removing a portion of curb will cost about $1,600.

Betty Adams — 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @betadams


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