LEWISTON – Leaders unveiled plans Thursday for a $20 million redux of the city’s Lisbon Street gateway.

Plans call for two new office buildings, new sidewalks, buried utilities and a parking garage at the corner of Lisbon and Maple streets. Anchoring the project would be Oxford Networks, a Maine telephone and Internet company, and Northeast Bank.

The deal would bring as many as 300 jobs to the blighted area. The entire project could be complete within three years, City Administrator James Bennett said.

The property at the entrance to lower Lisbon Street is one of the city’s signature views. Instead of a dilapidated former warehouse, people who enter the downtown there would see new three- and four-story office buildings, a parking garage and a renovated historic building on the far corner.

“This is our front door,” said Gregory Mitchell, Lewiston’s development director. “We wanted as grand a vision as we thought we could assemble.”

The vision would be backed by state and local aid.

The city planned to release the details of the project’s proposed funding on Friday. The package will include a tax-increment financing deal that would cap property taxes within this limited site at current levels for the next 20 years, saving the builders millions of dollars in future tax payments to the city.

At the state level, the site would be the first use of Gov. John Baldacci’s Pine Tree Zone program, which has declared Androscoggin County as one of its empowerment zones. Builders on the project would be exempted from sales taxes on materials. Meanwhile, the company would receive a reduction in its corporate taxes to the state.

Baldacci attended Thursday’s announcement. He praised the company and city leaders, calling Lewiston a model for government cooperation with private business.

“It’s great economic news for the state of Maine,” Baldacci said.

New buildings

Oxford Networks plans to move its headquarters into one of the proposed buildings, a 17,000-square-foot, three-story building bordering Lisbon Street.

Last week, Oxford Networks announced a five-year plan to connect homes and businesses in Lewiston and Auburn with fiber optics. The company plans to sell cable and digital television, telephone service and high-speed Internet access.

To make room for its new home, plans call for part of the warehouse at the site to be razed. The remaining portion, built in the 1970s, would be renovated and its facade changed to match the new structure.

But some buildings would remain. About $2 million is aimed for the empty historic building next door.

Plans call for the creation of a business center there, including Coastal Enterprises Inc. and the Lewiston-Auburn Economic Growth Council under a single roof. It would act as a one-stop destination for someone looking for business help.

Beside the new Oxford Networks building, on Maple Street, a four-story building is planned for Northeast Bank, headquartered on Court Street in Auburn.

Behind the new structures, the city plans to build a parking garage for between 200 and 400 cars. It would be Lewiston’s third new downtown garage in as many years.

Despite the size of the project, City Administrator Bennett said this is just the first phase.

“This is a multi-chapter book that’s being told here,” he said Thursday. “There are more announcements to come.”

Image problem

Bennett hopes this development will be a catalyst for improvements to the entire neighborhood. This part of Lisbon Street has gone largely untouched for 30 years, he said.

The owners of upscale businesses have been reluctant to invest in the area, Development Director Mitchell said. The risk seemed high, especially in a neighborhood notorious for its pawn shops and social clubs.

So, the city attacked the problem by working with several businesses at a time. “They didn’t want to be an island to themselves,” Mitchell said.

Bennett wants to see the changes merge with improvements to the other end of Lisbon Street, where millions have been spent on projects such as the new district courthouse and where the city has installed new sidewalks and street lights.

Current plans call for the lights and sidewalks to continue all the way to this new development.

“In a sense, we’re finishing Lisbon Street,” Bennett said. “In terms of image, this is the biggest project I have ever been part of.”