AUGUSTA —  Kennebec Savings Bank began the process Tuesday to make way for a new five-story office building on its property near Memorial Circle.

The new structure would bring brand-new office space to more than 100 employees and expand the bank’s main Augusta campus to fill most of the block between Western Avenue, State Street and Chapel Street.

The plans, though, include the demolition of a historic house at 15 Western Ave.,  a move some Augusta residents oppose.

At a meeting Tuesday of the Augusta Historic Preservation Commission, Kennebec Savings Bank CEO and President Andrew Silsby said the new project’s design essentially necessitated the removal of the building  —  an 1899 house designed by the famous Maine architect John Calvin Stevens.

Another historic building nearby that was recently acquired by the bank, the Maine State Grange building on State Street, will remain intact, Silsby said.

“We worked very diligently to try to figure out what we could do with this (Western Avenue) building,” Silsby told commission members. “We looked at two different contractors to potentially move the building, and both said it would be so cost-prohibitive that they would not actually give us a bid on how much it would cost to move the building.”

Silsby said the building has not been well-maintained over the past couple decades and that a historical renovation of the house would cost nearly $2 million on top of the move. Designers for the new project, he said, briefly considered building an addition to the house, but “couldn’t really make it work.”

The new office building also requires 170 parking spaces, Silsby said, because of Augusta’s parking minimum rules. That would take up much of the bank’s land and requires the demolition of the house.

The house — which has been vacant for about 15 months after years of hosting an optometrist’s office — is not included in any of Augusta’s four historic districts, which maintain protections for building demolitions. It’s also not on the National Register of Historic Places, a designation the owners of the building never applied for.

But, the commission determined, it does have historic value to Augusta because of Stevens’ design. Commission members imposed a 60-day delay on demolition —  a period designed in Augusta’s ordinances to allow for a negotiation on the fate of the building.

The delay is just that: Per Augusta’s ordinances, as long as Kennebec Savings Bank gives “due consideration to all possible alternatives to demolition” and doesn’t find “viable alternatives,” the city can move forward with approving the demolition.

Historic commission members were resigned to that fact, reflecting the views of some on social media who reacted with displeasure when news of Kennebec Savings Bank’s proposal spread earlier this month.

“I was really sad when I got this letter,” Cheryl Clukey, a commission member, said. “I knew it was coming, but I’m just really sad about it.”

Kennebec Savings Bank’s project still needs to go through several rounds of approvals with the city of Augusta, including the Planning Board for a zoning change and City Council for a building height allowance.

At the end of Tuesday’s commission meeting, prominent Augusta developer Richard Parkhurst made a public offer to buy and move the house.

“In my mind, it would be a simple move to the north end of the rotary,” he said.

Commission Vice Chair Gerald Bumford said he “loved the offer” and would help Parkhurst if he “was a man of means.” But the clock is ticking, Bumford said.

“You’ve got 60 days left (before the demolition delay expires),” he said. “Time is of the essence.”

As he walked out of the room alongside Kennebec Savings Bank Chief Operating Officer Craig Garofalo, Parkhurst reiterated his offer.

“We can certainly sit down and talk,” Garofalo said.