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A federal judge has rejected a Belfast church’s attempt to stop the University of Maine System’s sale of the local Hutchinson Center to a nonprofit organization.
On Wednesday morning, Judge Stacey Neumann issued a decision denying the preliminary injunction that Calvary Chapel Belfast sought to block the system’s sale of the center to Waldo Community Action Partners.
Calvary Chapel Belfast has already filed an appeal of the ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
The ruling Wednesday came following months of legal wrangling, after the UMaine System initially offered to sell the shuttered Hutchinson Center to the church, but then withdrew the offer and solicited a new round of bids. That culminated in the new offer to sell the facility to Waldo CAP, which provides a variety of services in the region.
The UMaine System has said that it changed course after realizing that the original criteria for judging the bids was incorrect and that Waldo CAP made a better offer in the second round. The church has argued in its lawsuit that it was the victim of religious discrimination and that the UMaine System was caving to public pressure after a backlash against the initial sale offer.
