Police training center to be purchased

WATERVILLE – The buyer for the Maine Criminal Justice Academy is nearly ready to reveal itself, according to Realtor Gregg Perkins.

Perkins, owner of Affiliated Realty in Waterville, confirmed Monday that a buyer has entered into a sale agreement for the facility and will soon be issuing a statement regarding the future of the former police training center.

“At this point, I am not at liberty to give out any information,” said Perkins, who said the property was placed under contract recently.

He said the entire deal should be completed within two months and could not discuss whether the state’s price for the facility – $499,000 – will be met.

Perkins said that since he took over the property’s listing earlier this fall, interest in the facility has been high.

The property’s campus includes six buildings on a picturesque 12.5-acre lot, bisected by Messalonskee Stream, in the heart of Waterville.

It became the state’s training center for law enforcement officers in the early 1970s but was replaced by a new training center nearing completion at the former Oak Grove-Coburn School in Vassalboro.

Efforts by Waterville school department to buy the property from the state for a token $1 payment failed. It had been estimated it could cost $425,000 to revamp the facility as an education complex and city officials were also concerned that the facility would be removed from the tax rolls.

The new training facility, which serves to instruct Maine State Troopers, municipal officers, dispatchers, animal control officers and game wardens, is expected to be ready for operation by early January.