University of Southern Maine trustees have approved plans to tear down the iconic Dickey-Wood dormitories in Gorham.

GORHAM — The twin, mothballed round dormitories on the University of Southern Maine campus appear this week to be one step closer to the wrecking ball.

The University of Maine System Board of trustees Monday unanimously approved preliminary plans to eliminate outdated facilities that could include demolishing the 48-year-old Dickey-Wood dormitories.

“We are in the middle of a master planning process that is looking at the possibility of residence halls on both the Portland and Gorham campuses,” Robert Stein, USM spokesman, said Tuesday. “Whatever is decided, Dickey-Wood is not the answer.”

The vacant pair of eight-story dormitories had the capacity to house up to 368 students, but were shuttered a few years ago. The dormitories, linked on the ground floor, opened in 1970 and cost more than $2.2 million to construct.

Reopening the aging structures has been determined to be unworkable. “It has been looked at closely by engineers and others and it is not feasible to renovate them,” Stein said.

The University of Maine System Board of Trustees unanimously approved “a preliminary plan to knock down up to 300,000 gross square feet of vacant, underutilized, or poorer condition space across the campuses. This represents approximately 3 percent of the University’s 9-million-square-foot physical plant statewide,” according to a university system press release.

The release said preliminary approval of the overall reduction plan represents the system’s “largest and most strategic effort” to reduce its footprint and would save $2.3 million annually.

The Dickey-Wood complex is “a prime example of a demolition project” that university officials would likely pursue, the press release said. But demolition would require additional approval and it’s unclear when the trustees’ vote would come.

The twin dormitories were named and dedicated for two women at Gorham State College, a USM forerunner. Edna Dickey was a  history professor and women’s dean. Esther Wood was a social science professor.

Robert Lowell can be reached at 854-2577 or rlowell@keepmecurrent.com.