AUBURN – A $29 million development plan for Lewiston’s downtown will turn some of the city’s oldest mills into residential condominiums and specialty boutiques.
Lewiston leaders and project developers unveiled the Island Point project Thursday at Auburn’s Hilton Garden Inn. It’s a project to redevelop Lewiston’s side of the Great Falls for high-end residential, retail and restaurant space. Long-term plans include a 10-story hotel north of the Libbey Mill.
The project would get $21.5 million in private investment and about $7.5 million in city of Lewiston road work, parking garages and loans.
“Maine is so beautiful, but I think we’re kind of spoiled,” said Developer Travis Soule of SOLO Properties. “For some reason, we overlook our rivers. In other states, the rivers are the waterfront. So that’s what we have here: a boutique development and riverfront condominiums.”
The plan would reshape Lewiston’s Western Gateway. Soule and his partner plan to:
• Redevelop the Central Maine Power Co. building at 134 Main St., with room for a call center on the third floor and Espo’s Trattoria on the first floor. That phase of the project could be finished next fall and should cost about $500,000.
• Redevelop the Cowan Mill on the edge of the river for 20 to 30 high-end condominiums, boutique retail and a four-star restaurant. Work on that should begin in April and should take 18 months to complete. Soule estimates it will cost about $6 million.
• Redevelop the Libbey Mill beginning in 2006 for high-end condominiums and retail. That work should wrap up in 2007 and should cost about $5 million.
• Keep plans for a 10-story, $10 million hotel on the northern part of the Libbey Mill on the back burner.
“This site is too nice to just hurry and put up an el cheapo deluxe’ hotel,” Soule said. His hotel would probably wait until the city announces plans to redevelop Bates Mill No. 5, possibly as a convention center.
“That would be the market trigger for a new hotel,” Soule said. “I can say that if you see a convention center developed, you will see a hotel here.”
For its part, the city plans to build a two-deck parking garage with room for 100 cars north of the Cowan Mill and above Veterans Memorial Park. A second garage with room for 375 cars would go up when the Libbey Mill residential project starts. The city would also devote about $1.6 million to improving Island Avenue and Mill Street.
Assistant City Administrator Greg Mitchell said the city also hopes to expand the northern edge of Veterans Memorial Park, giving it more room. He’s working with local veterans groups to maintain the park.
Empire Theater
The Empire Theater, which borders the CMP building at 134 Main St., is beyond saving, Mitchell said.
“That happens when you leave some buildings alone for too long,” he said. He estimated it would cost about $60,000 to remove asbestos, pigeon waste, rot and water damage from the historic building.
The city is negotiating to take over that property, Mitchell said. It’s currently owned by developer Tom Platz.
City Administrator Jim Bennett said the city is considering creating a tax-increment financing district for the project. That would earmark tax revenue from the project to pay for road improvements and parking garages.
Bennett said he expects the project and a joint development agreement to go to the Lewiston City Council in the next 30 days.
“When the council signs that agreement, this project is ready to go,” Bennett said.
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