ELLSWORTH — The city is negotiating to sell the ball fields at the former Bryant E. Moore School to a nursing home developer.

First Atlantic Healthcare, which owns Collier’s Healthcare on Birch Avenue, hopes to relocate and expand that facility.

“They are looking at using the Moore School property,” City Manager Michelle Beal said Monday. “We’re going to be negotiating on that.”

The $12-million project would be built next to the former Moore School, now home to a senior center and childcare program.

“It’s such a great fit with the senior center,” Beal said.

City officials say the new nursing home will be part of a hub of much-needed senior housing and services in the downtown area.

The nursing home will be within walking distance of the senior center, Main Street, the library, a planned park on the site of the former Knowlton School and another senior housing development.

Penquis Housing has received Planning Board approval to build a 26-unit senior housing complex on the corner of Wood Street and Shore Road. Leonard Lake Senior Housing would provide low-cost housing to seniors who live independently.

Beal said that project is still awaiting financing.

She said there is a great need locally for senior housing of all types, including independent living, assisted living and 24-hour care.

There is a projected need for 300 additional nursing home beds in Hancock County by 2020, according to Beal.

She said City Hall often fields calls from people interested in senior housing options. Some seniors from the area now live in facilities in Bangor, but their families would like to have them closer to home.

“They’d like to bring them back,” Beal said.

First Atlantic proposes constructing a two-story, 61,000-square-foot building with 61 residential beds and 30 assisted living beds, Beal said.

She said the project will occupy two and a half to three acres.

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