New maintenance center to be dedicated

The new Facility Services building at Bates College will be dedicated Wednesday at noon in a ceremony off of Russell Street behind Merrill Gymnasium.

Named the Cutten Maintenance Center, the building was built from money bequeathed to Bates by the recently deceased William K. Cutten, an engineer from Bates class of 1938, in memory of his parents, Leverett Howell Cutten and Illene King Cutten, Bates classes of 1904 and 1905, respectively.

Built to replace the 35-year-old Andrews Road Maintenance center, which was demolished to make way for a new Bates academic building, the new two-story, 31,030-square-foot center houses all Facility Services operations, including administrative offices, shops and storage for the skilled trades and operations areas for grounds, maintenance, custodial services and shipping and receiving.

Completed in April, the new Cutten Maintenance Center was designed by architect David Sheffield with Kasper Group Inc. of Bridgeport, Conn. Project contractor was Sheridan Corporation of Fairfield. The college’s own Facility Services staff completed portions of the site work and the interior finishing and painting, in addition to all of the landscaping.