LEWISTON – It’s tough to see a new downtown growing out of Lisbon Street, between the traffic and the torn up sidewalks, the mud and the construction vehicles.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” said Pine Tree Trading’s Marcel Morin. “At least, it’ll be beautiful when it’s done.”

Morin said he can see it, as crews work to complete several different projects, all parts of the city’s Southern Gateway revitalization.

“It’s been a long time we’ve been waiting for this,” Morin said from his Lisbon Street shop.

City officials announced the $20 million revitalization project in May 2003, 15 months ago. The plan called for two new office buildings, hundreds of new jobs, new sidewalks and a new face for lower Lisbon Street.

“I don’t think you could go any faster than we’ve gone,” said Greg Mitchell, assistant city administrator. “If you look at where we were and how far we’ve come, you have to be impressed.”

It will take longer than 15 months for the transformation to be complete, but changes are obvious, he said.

Gone is the Lincoln Street Radiator shop, a neighboring apartment complex and nearby engine shop. In their place, Oxford Networks crews are trying to complete work for a Sept. 9 ribbon-cutting ceremony. Andover College is gearing up for its second semester in the old Good Shepherd food bank, and a wide lot now separates the college from the Pontiac Building. A state-of-the-art Oxford Networks satellite dish now sprouts from the roof of that building.

On both sides of Lisbon Street, crews are digging trenches for new granite curb and are making space for new sidewalks, street lights and landscaping. Down at the beginning of lower Lisbon, a new VIP Auto Discount Center replaces the formerly vacant gray building at the corner of Adams and Lisbon streets.

“If we can make it through this, we should be in pretty good shape,” said Lisbon Street Pawn Shop owner Rick LaChapelle. City crews have closed Cedar Street completely, and work along Lisbon Street frequently blocks the parking in front of his store.

But LaChapelle is pleased that he’ll get six on-street parking spaces across from his store when the work is done.

“It’s something I’m keeping my eye on,” LaChapelle said. “I think it’s going to be good once it’s finished.”

More is coming. The Public Theatre is ready to kick off a 1,650-square-foot addition, and crews have started digging the foundations for Northeast Bank’s four-story office building at Canal and Maple streets. Work on a new $4 million parking garage off Lisbon Street between the college and the Pontiac Building should begin next month.

And Mitchell said he hasn’t even started on plans to refurbish the Pontiac Building. Plans call for turning that building into a new home for the Lewiston-Auburn Economic Growth Council and related groups.

All the Lisbon Street work dovetails into the city’s Heritage Initiative. That plan calls for building a new $4.5 million boulevard across Lisbon Street, connecting Lincoln and Bartlett. Community Concepts plans to build a new office building on Maple Street, across from the Public Theatre.

“It is a sign of success,” Mitchell said. “There is no two ways about it, this is changing the face of the downtown. We have $25 million in public projects invested here, bringing in hundreds of new people. That has to give the area a new dynamic.”