The owner of the Bailey Island General Store has purchased the Bailey Island Post Office property, but the building will remain a post office indefinitely.
Trevor Pontbriand, owner of the convenience store and diner known as BIGS, bought the adjacent property for $200,000 from Save the Bailey Island Post Office LLC. Current and former post office employees, along with concerned patrons, had created that organization and raised the same amount to buy the property in 2009, when islanders were afraid it would close.
“This sale represents an important milestone for our community,” Roxanne York, president of Save the Bailey Island Post Office LLC, said in a Dec. 10 email to shareholders.
“The sale was contingent upon the buyer’s agreement to assume the existing lease and continue operating the property as a Post Office for as long as it is supported by the federal government,” York said. “Trevor Pontbriand has fully committed to these terms, recognizing the importance of both the Post Office and the General Store to the fabric of our community.”
The lease runs through September 2030 with options to renew into 2040. The annual rent is $16,300.
The 864-square-foot building sits on a roughly 0.2-acre lot at 2120 Harpswell Islands Road, between BIGS and the Fishnet Cafe.
Back in 2009, Save the Bailey Island Post Office raised money by selling shares for $1,000 each to nearly 90 shareholders.
The administration of the organization was cumbersome because of tax filings, with the deaths of original shareholders compounding the problems.
The organization offered the building to local nonprofits, but they declined. It then decided to list the property for sale, imposing a deed restriction that required any buyer to maintain it as a post office until the Postal Service decides to close it.
“We’d really like to see a community member buy it and fix it up and keep it a functioning post office,” York said in August.
The organization is working with its accountant to distribute proceeds from the sale to shareholders. Some shareholders don’t want the proceeds, York said, so the organization will split those funds between Harpswell Aging at Home and the Orr’s and Bailey Islands Fire Department.
York thanked shareholders and deemed their mission a success. “Thanks to this collective commitment, the Post Office has remained a vital and enduring part of our community for many years,” she wrote.
