MACHIAS – The military housing at the former Cutler Navy base will be sold and the 22 buildings on the administrative side will be marketed to businesses worldwide under a development proposal approved Wednesday.

Members of the Cutler Development Corp. – the quasi-municipal organization that was created to transfer the 80 acres of excess base property from the Navy to a new user – voted unanimously to enter into a tentative developer agreement with Sunset Group LLC, a group of real estate brokers and investors from Jonesport, Vero Beach, Fla., and Atlanta.

In choosing Sunset Group LLC, the development corporation turned down a proposal for a residential drug treatment center and another proposal to develop time-share vacation units from base housing.

The applicants were vying for all or part of the 80 acres of excess government property, which includes 61 housing units, a gymnasium, fitness center, restaurant, tennis courts and 22 administrative buildings, including additional recreational facilities, warehouses and offices. The property is valued at $10.5 million, according to a defense conversion study requisitioned by the Eastern Maine Development Corp.

Sunset Group’s proposal was submitted to the development corporation last month, and Atlanta architect Peter Callandruccio explained the project to the more than 200 people who attended a Feb. 12 public meeting on all three proposals in Cutler.

Callandruccio said Sunset Group will give the development corporation $150,000 for the property and invest $3.9 million – seeking $1.5 million of that amount in grants.

“We’ll be investing $2,439,999 – half in equity and half in debt that we’ll borrow from a commercial lender in the area,” Callandruccio said.

Callandruccio said it would take approximately three years to sell all 61 housing units, which will be marketed for $70,000 to $75,000. The profit the group makes on the housing will allow it the time to work with Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corp. to market the commercial and industrial side, he said.

The Sunset Group LLC proposal was the top choice of the Cutler residents who attended that meeting, getting 93 of the 155 votes cast by survey at the end of the night. The drug treatment proposal was the highest vote-getter from the 41 other Washington County residents who attended the meeting.

Charlene Cates, a Cutler member of the development corporation, said Wednesday that the Sunset Group proposal also received the highest aggregate score from corporation members. The group spent a little more than two hours in executive session rating the proposals.

Cates said Sunset garnered 81 of a possible 105 points on evaluation criteria such as number of jobs created, amount of tax revenue to be generated, percentage of base to be re-used, and benefit of the development to the community.

The time-share resort proposed by Christopher Harrington of Abbot – the developer who created a similar resort on Moosehead Lake – came in second, with 73 points; the drug treatment proposal by Maine Lighthouse Corp. received a score of 66.15, Cates said.

Cutler residents have been vocal and unified in their opposition to a drug treatment program in their community, but their feelings are not necessarily shared by residents of Machias and East Machias – the two other towns represented on the development corporation.

More than 500 Washington County residents – including 185 residents of Machias and 87 from East Machias – signed a petition supporting the drug treatment center.

On Wednesday night, Machias Town Manager Christine Therrien – a member of the corporation – said she had given the highest rating to the drug treatment center because of Washington County’s need for the program.

Therrien’s motion to enter into a tentative developer agreement with Maine Lighthouse received no support. Tony Maker, one of the Cutler board members, then moved in favor of Sunset, and Therrien joined her fellow board members in approving the motion.

The board and Sunset Group LLC now have 120 days to come to agreement on the details of a property transfer agreement.