SACO — The fate of the former Thornton Avenue Fire Station is still uncertain.

Discussions have ensued for two years about what to do with the property, and a decision was put off again by the city council Monday night.

The former fire station was built in 1938 as a Works Progress Administration project, and was vacated in 2011 when the fire department moved to a new station on North Street.

Developer Cynthia Taylor, president of the nonprofit Housing Initiatives of New England, offered the city $50,000 for the building. Taylor proposed a mix of commercial and residential space, with a community room that could be used by tenants and be rented out. Taylor said she would invest about $1 million in the building to take care of asbestos and other issues.

The building is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, and Taylor said she would restore the building and have it put on the register.

Councilor Eric Cote said he had taken a tour of Taylor’s development in Scarborough, Bessey Commons, that created apartments in a former school building, and said he was very impressed with her work.

“I’d like to see you come to Saco and do the same in Saco,” he said.

After a spirited public hearing Monday night where audience members spoke out strongly to save the building, the city council voted 4-3 against Taylor’s offer.

Councilors Marston Lovell, Arthur Tardif, Marie Doucette and David Tripp voted not to sell it, while Councilors Eric Cote, Philip Blood and Leslie Smith voted in favor.

After a round of “boos” from the audience and a recess, the council then voted to table, until mid-September, a decision on whether to demolish the building.

Downtown resident Steve Ryan said the former fire station isn’t the most beautiful building, but it has “a solidity to it,” and he spoke to the strength of the city’s forefathers. Tearing it down would break up the continuum of the area, he said.

“Looking to the future, if that building is destroyed, we’ve lost it forever,” he said.

Resident Jason Scott asked the council to use “a little bit of common sense.” He said the city had the opportunity to sell the building, or it could tear it down and spend $250,000 it didn’t have to make a parking lot. He said it was “a no-brainer” to sell the building.

Councilor Smith spoke in favor of Taylor’s proposal, saying that the city did not need a parking lot and selling it would get it on the tax rolls.

“It’s a Saco landmark,” he said.

Councilors Tardif and Tripp said they thought the city could get more money for the property.

Two other developers are interested in the building. Developer King Weinstein has offered $72,000, and brick mason Nate Libby, who had made an offer to the city in 2010 for $40,000, has come back with an offer of $50,000.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 325 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com.