BELFAST – The 1,000-plus mostly nontraditional students who use the Hutchinson Center each semester in effect went from being tenants to homeowners Tuesday as the Bank of America donated the building off Route 3 to the University of Maine.

Built by MBNA in 1999 for an estimated $7 million and opened in 2000, the building was leased to UMaine for $1 a year, with MBNA picking up the $125,000 in annual operational costs.

The lease was scheduled to expire June 30.

Instead of its future being a big question mark for community leaders and educators, who value the university’s presence in the area and the opportunities it provides, the Hutchinson Center is now firmly under the wing of the Orono campus.

University officials are even talking in general terms about a possible expansion, if the center continues to be as heavily used as it has been over the last six years.

A year ago, Bank of America announced it would acquire credit card lender MBNA. The deal closed on Jan. 1.

That sent shock waves through the communities where the company was a major employer.

During a ceremony Tuesday announcing the gift, Belfast Mayor Mike Hurley recounted the pitch made by business leaders, city officials, nonprofits and others for the company to stay in Belfast.

“It was a combined full-court press,” he said, during which he found the bank to be “frank, communicative and honest.”

The bank closed offices in Fort Kent, Presque Isle, Farmington and Portland, but retained its operations in Belfast, Orono and Brunswick. Shortly after getting assurances that the bank was staying in Belfast, Hurley, state Sen. Carol Weston, Hutchinson Center Director Jim Patterson and others lobbied the company about the importance of the local arm of UMaine.

The 19,000-square-foot Hutchinson Center, featuring 15,000 square feet of classroom space, was built on the site of a former chicken barn, Hurley said.

“That is as symbolic as it gets in the former broiler capital of the world,” he said, as older, nontraditional students seeking to expand their employment opportunities have used the center.

The center offers about 200 undergraduate and graduate level courses each semester by on-site faculty, videoconferencing, the Internet and ITV. Additionally, some 500 senior citizens from more than 50 Maine communities use the facility as part of a Senior College, the state’s second largest. Another 14,000 are served annually through conferences.

UM Chief Financial Officer Janet Waldron said the university is considering making a donation to the city in lieu of taxes, as it does in Orono, since the Hutchinson Center will be considered tax-exempt when Bank of America no longer owns it. The facility is assessed at $3.3 million.

Hurley praised the vision of MBNA founder Charles Cawley, who met with UMaine officials shortly after the company began operating in Belfast to discuss postsecondary educational opportunities in the area, and who made the decision to build the Hutchinson Center.

“It’s a challenge to be offered such a gift,” Hurley said, because by accepting it UM takes on responsibilities and commitment.

Betsey Greenstein, president of Bank of America in Maine, and a UM graduate, said the company values endeavors such as the Hutchinson Center.

“Bank of America supports anchor institutions like the University of Maine throughout the country,” she said.

Greenstein recounted how, after earning a degree at Orono, she then got a master of business administration degree from the University of Southern Maine while working full time.

The Hutchinson Center, which “mainly serves working students over the age of 21,” was especially important to the Belfast area, she said.

Gov. John Baldacci, who noted that he, like Greenstein, is a UM graduate, said the donation would not have come “if we hadn’t had Betsey as president of Bank of America.”

UM President Robert Kennedy said, “We are very, very humbled and honored and grateful beyond words. Together, we’ve done great things, and improved the lives of many people. We have big dreams for its future.”

Kennedy directed attention to Fred Hutchinson, the former UM president for whom the center was named, and said that Hutchinson landed a $200 Sears & Roebuck scholarship that enabled him to attend UMaine.

The Hutchinson Center serves “modern day Fred Hutchinsons,” Kennedy said. “All they need is the opportunity, and they will take care of the rest.”