LEWISTON – City leaders say they are ready to unveil plans aimed at fixing up the area around the southern end of Main Street, near Longley Bridge.

The city has scheduled a 2 p.m. press conference Thursday at the Hilton Garden Inn to announce plans for a significant development project in Lewiston’s Western Gateway.

A city of Lewiston news release brags, “You saw what happened in the Southern Gateway, come see what’s next.”

The Western Gateway area runs southwest and north from the intersection of Ash and Canal streets, according to the city’s development maps. It includes Bates Mill No. 5 and the Libbey Mill.

City leaders have touted Bates Mill No. 5 as a potential convention center and have been looking for a developer for the Libbey Mill since 2001. Some have speculated that the Libbey Mill could become a retail and office space development.

So far, the city has demolished two buildings that were at the corner of Main and Lincoln streets and has put up a park with fountains as part of the Western Gateway plans. Buildings farther north on Main Street were demolished a year ago in a gas line explosion.

The city reached an agreement to buy those lots in August.

City officials announced the $20 million Southern Gateway project in May 2003. That plan called for two new office buildings, hundreds of new jobs and new sidewalks on lower Lisbon Street.

Work is finished on Oxford Networks’ new office building, Andover College’s Lisbon Street campus and a new VIP Auto Center at the corner of Adams and Lisbon streets.

Work is continuing on Northeast Bank’s four-story office building at Canal and Maple streets, a new Lisbon Street parking garage and renovations to The Public Theatre.