Dear UMPI Community,
As many of you may have seen in the news recently, UMPI will be selling the Houlton Higher Education Center building at 18 Military St. in Houlton to the Community Living Association (CLA). This sale is the culmination of a long-term effort, which I last wrote to you about in July 2023, to ensure the long-term fiscal sustainability of our operations. CLA’s purchase not only allows UMPI to maintain a higher education presence in the building, but also provides a unique solution for decreasing our overall property footprint.
Through a $1 a year lease, UMPI will maintain a 3,240-square-foot space in the building for classrooms, offices, and a computer lab, and we expect to see little to no disruption for any of our students there.
Given some of the information that students received earlier this week, I wanted to confirm that UMPI is not leaving Houlton and will continue to provide support as needed for all University of Maine System students in the area regardless of their affiliation, as has been its mission for over twenty years, including UMA students should they require any assistance at any time. In addition, Jean Henderson remains a very essential member of our Advising team and will continue to work with new and continuing UMPI students and is available to assist all those previously assigned to her. If it’s helpful, please see this press release for more details on the sale and plans for the building.
We’re incredibly lucky to have found a partner like CLA to serve as the new building owner, as the nonprofit plans for the space to continue serving as a community resource. As the building readies for the changes to come, I thought it would be very fitting to share this WAGM story that took a look back to 2001, when the building transitioned away from its past life as a grocery store. I hope the message that resonates is that the next transformation is something to look forward to, especially since it allows UMPI and the University of Maine System to continue serving the educational needs of southern Aroostook County and surrounding areas.
