BANGOR – Looking to make room for a new Bangor Auditorium at Bass Park, city officials this week approved a $350,000 down payment on a 3.3-acre vacant lot on nearby Dutton Street.

“My hope is that it will become an integral part of the replacement of the auditorium-civic center,” Mayor Michael Crowley said Wednesday of the lot behind the Main Street Irving station. “It’s going to be a valuable asset.”

Although negotiations are not yet final, the city is ultimately expected to pay $650,000 to Bangor businessman Larry Mahaney’s Erin Corp. for the land, seen by some city officials as a key acquisition in their bid to build a new auditorium somewhere on the Bass Park site – preferably closer to Main Street.

The purchase agreement, which has yet to be formalized, comes weeks before a Kansas City, Mo.-based firm is scheduled to release its study of a new auditorium-civic center complex. The $100,000 study is expected to include an assessment of the best location for the new facility.

On Monday, the council gave its unanimous approval to transferring $350,000 from the city’s savings account to help pay for the Dutton street lot.

While the vote was unanimous, the sentiments among councilors were anything but.

“We don’t have a use for it now,” said City Councilor Dan Tremble, who eventually supported the fund transfer citing a stipulation in the agreement that requires the Erin Corp. to use some of the purchase price to improve its Main Street properties – namely the Holiday Inn. “It’s a substantial amount of money, and it doesn’t make a lot of sense right now.”

The city values the land at $426,600, according to the city assessor’s office.

City officials said the $650,000 purchase price was based on a later appraisal.

Until the city finds a use for the land, the lot will continue to accommodate overflow parking from Bass Park.