New London ― A Bangor, Maine, development company that’s bought and transformed several underutilized downtown parcels has purchased another State Street building.

High Tide Capital, doing business as 208 State Street LLC, on July 10 purchased the former Frontier Communications building at 208 State St., across from City Hall, for $825,000 via a quit-claim deed, property records show.

The one-story building, owned by the Southern New England Telephone Co. since it was built in 1973, includes 20,738 square feet of office space and the same amount of basement garage space on 0.36 acres.

Mayor Michael Passero said Monday the telephone company, operating as Frontier Communications, ran a call center at the location until COVID-19 hit in 2020.

“At the time, they were trying to build back up their workforce, but never re-opened after shutting down,” Passero said, calling the building purchase a “months in the making” process.

“The plan, as explained to us initially, would be to build a multi-story apartment building above the existing office structure,” Passero said. “And they’d find a prospective tenant for those offices.”

High Tide principal Dash Davidson could not immediately be reached to comment.

In a parallel July 10 deal, the telephone company agreed to an easement request from High Tide that grants the developer access to a portion of its 26 Washington St. property for $1.

The easement deal gives High Tide the ability to construct, install and maintain electrical components, according to agreement documents.

High Tide, which specializes in the renovation of historic buildings, in June announced the completion of The Riverbank, a multi-million-dollar project that includes 32 mixed-income apartments, a rooftop deck and three retail locations at 137, 133 and 123 Bank St.

The firm in 2022 opened the Manwaring Building at 225 State St. as supplementary Connecticut College housing after investing millions in its historic rehabilitation.

In September, High Tide paid $1.75 million for the Citizens Bank building at 63 Eugene O’Neill Drive, and in January finalized its purchase of The Day Publishing Co. headquarters at 47 Eugene O’Neill Drive for $1.875 million, a price tag that includes 65,000 square feet of office space and less than an acre of land.

High Tide principals late last year unveiled conceptual plans that showed a 120-room hotel, along with apartments and retail spaces, on the block of Eugene O’Neill Drive where The Day building and the adjoining former Citizens Bank sit.

Editor’s note: this version corrects how the property was transferred.

j.penney@theday.com