An evangelical church has sued the University of Maine System after it was initially selected to buy the system’s Hutchinson Center in Belfast, but then saw that offer rescinded and lost out to another bidder in the second round of proposals.
Calvary Chapel Belfast filed the lawsuit on Tuesday, just a few days after the UMaine System announced that it’s now planning to sell the Hutchinson Center to another organization, Waldo Community Action Partners.
In its complaint, the church accused the UMaine System of discriminating against it by violating its First and 14th Amendment rights, as well as its civil rights, and also of breaching its contract.
It named as defendants the UMaine System, its board of trustees, and multiple administrators.
A representative for the UMaine System said that it would not immediately be able to comment.
It has previously said that it rescinded the offer to sell the Hutchinson Center to Calvary Chapel Belfast after discovering a deficiency in the criteria that were used to evaluate the first round of proposals for the sale.
In the second round of bids, Waldo CAP offered the highest purchase price of $3.06 million, compared to an offer of $1.1 million from Calvary Chapel Belfast.
The two organizations had both offered to pay $1 million for the purchase during the first round of bids.
This story will be updated.
