The former Spring Fountain Motel on Route 1 in Bucksport, a condemned lodging establishment with a checkered history that’s been vacant since 2021, sold on Wednesday after years on the market.
It had been listed for sale for $1.5 million, and buyers took out a mortgage for up to $1.48 million, according to deed records.
The motel’s disrepair and negative reputation locally — spanning poor living conditions, clashes with town government and two lawsuits — made it seem “unsellable,” according to listing agent Doug Burpee. Last August, he and partner Emily Wascholl were the last in a string of agents to try to sell it and met with doubt and backlash.
“I’ve never listed a property and had people personally attack me for it,” he said.
But they stuck it out and found buyers with experience renovating dilapidated motels in Maine and Massachusetts. He hopes the sale will turn over a new leaf for the prominent property on the edge of downtown among other new businesses opening.
“It kind of feels like the end of a saga,” Burpee said.
He said the owners of Large View Motel Rental and Leasing, LLC, which bought the property, intend to reopen it as lodging. Documents in the Hancock County Registry of Deeds name the members of that LLC as Admir Bali and Muharrem Plloci.
Deed documents show both are also members of the company behind the Sanctuary Inn in Ellsworth, a former nursing home converted to housing for people recovering from substance abuse. That inn drew some controversy last year when the City Council approved its business license after it had already started operations and residents complained about tenants’ behavior, but the property manager said concerns would be addressed.
The 50-room motel in Bucksport, built in 1960, is one of the largest of its kind locally outside of Bangor and Bar Harbor.
Previously called the Fountain Inn and the Fountain Hut Motel, the motel caught fire in 2014. In 2017, a resident was arrested there after being charged with a toddler’s murder elsewhere in town. In 2019, a former manager was accused of assaulting children staying there.
Since at least 2018, the town had pressed the owners to address safety concerns. The motel was renting out rooms by the week and month to people who couldn’t find permanent housing, a trend that continues in other dilapidated motels across the midcoast.
Bucksport designated the Fountain Inn a “dangerous building” in 2021 for problems including inadequate heating and electrical systems, poor plumbing, mold and broken smoke detectors. It ordered residents to leave so those issues could be addressed; the motel has been uninhabited since.
In 2023, then-owner Asad Khaqan sued the town in federal court for condemning the building, claiming officials violated his rights by doing so and accusing the town’s code enforcement officer of spreading misleading information about him and interfering with his management of the property.
That case is still active but paused until a state court matter is resolved, according to federal records. The specifics of the state case weren’t clear on Thursday.
The hotel is still condemned and needs a lot of work, according to Burpee, but the buyers intend to address heating, electrical, plumbing and other problems. Contrary to rumor, he said, engineers have found it structurally sound.
“Success isn’t about listening to the naysayers — it’s about vision, hard work, and knowing how to get the job done,” he wrote on Facebook to a flood of positive comments. “To those who supported us, thank you. And to those who didn’t … well, I hope you’re taking notes.”
