LEWISTON – Olympia Snowe got a flashlight tour of the old St. Dominic’s Regional High School Thursday, flanked by city and housing officials hoping to turn the dark, empty space into lots of homes.

With a little bit of help.

Plans call for a 37-unit low-income elderly and disabled housing project. Construction could start next spring if the last $2 million of the $9 million project is secured.

U.S. Sen. Snowe was the third congressional seat holder to take the tour. U.S. Sen. Susan Collins and U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud came this summer.

“Without the federal assistance this project doesn’t get done,” said Phil Nadeau, assistant city administrator.

The delegation last helped secure funding for the new Community Center, he added.

The school’s first floor, actually in the basement, used to be a big kitchen and cafeteria. There’s been talk about moving the Lewiston Regional Technical Center’s culinary arts program into it.

The large auditorium, with wood paneled ceiling and large archways would be preserved for community use, said Jim Dowling, executive director of the Lewiston Housing Authority.

He’s not sure how it would be used, maybe a dining hall by day or concert hall by night. Other plans call for space for nonprofit organizations.

Dowling said a development package would be put together by the end of the year. Construction is expected to take 12 to 15 months, and applications would be sought from people looking to move in about six months before the units were ready.

“I’m excited,” Dowling said. “I really enjoy just coming here, looking at the architectural details and thinking about what it would be like to live here.”

Each one-room apartment would be the size of an old classroom in the building. There would be some effort to keep the tin ceilings, built-in cabinets and original features, Nadeau said.

The school is filled with lots of brick, ornate windows and doors, and some reminders of its past, like rows of yellow lockers all swung open. A mural over the exit doors of a rising sun announces “Life is waiting for you.”

“I think it’s a dynamic project,” Snowe said at the end of the tour. “Obviously there’s a lot of work to be done and it’s a costly venture. At the end of the day it is the right decision.”

kskelton@sunjournal.com