CARIBOU – The Maine Winter Sports Center has moved its headquarters from rented facilities at the Loring Commerce Centre in Limestone to a fully owned building in Caribou.

The facility at 552 Main St., near the Caribou School Department superintendent’s office, will house staff and equipment. Two people work in the facility and six other full-time staff members will use the facility for office space.

The 100-by-50-foot building also has an attached cold storage building that will be used to house some 1,000 ski packages the center rents out and lets people involved in the Healthy Hometown Ski Program use.

Max Saenger, chief operating officer for the center, has said the group outgrew its headquarters at the Loring facility.

“Without the LDA [Loring Development Authority] staff and facilities we could not have done this daunting mission we had when we started,” he told the LDA board of trustees last week. “You gave us the expertise and help we needed for several years.

“The Maine Winter Sports Center is now reaching out and moving into the community,” he said. “Still, we would not be where we are without the LDA.”

The wholly owned building, formerly a Dead River facility, creates a more permanent ideal, Saenger said Monday. Ownership is just more permanent, more rooted in the community, he said.

The facility at Caribou is a better setup for the group, because everything can be done under one roof. It is more centrally located for coaches who live in Fort Kent, Stockholm and Caribou. The facility also allows a garage for rental equipment.

The new center also is convenient to the sports center’s Aroostook County facilities in Fort Kent, Presque Isle and Mars Hill.

“We are sorry to see you go,” James Donnelly, chairman of the LDA, told Saenger and John Farra, his program coordinator, last Wednesday. “For us, it’s like losing a child who decided it’s time to leave home.

“There is a lot of enthusiasm for what you are doing,” he said. “We understand you need to go, but we are sad to see you go.”

“Our programs now support more that 50 communities statewide, including two of the top Nordic skiing facilities in the world and two of the top community alpine ski areas in the eastern United States,” Farra said. “Over the years, our staff has grown, as has the need for storage space.

“We loved our time at Loring, but we were looking for a specific set of features to meet our unique needs and the building in Caribou was perfect,” Farra said.

There will be an open house for the public on Friday, Dec. 9. at 552 Main St. The new telephone number is 492-1444, and the fax number is 492-1442.

The Maine Winter Sports Center was created to develop a sustainable economic and cultural model for rural communities in Maine. Officials hope to re-establish skiing as a lifestyle, one community at a time.

This winter, besides the score of local programs, the center will be hosting the World Junior Championships at its Heritage Center venue in Presque Isle and the United States Olympic Team trials at the 10th Mountain Division venue in Fort Kent.