Lewiston moved forward Tuesday night with plans to redevelop the area around the Cowan and Libbey mills.

The City Council OK’d a deal with the developer, which outlines the details of his plans for the next decade. And they agreed to buy the land under the Empire Theater once the building is torn down. Preparations have already begun for the demolition.

There’s no doubt that it’s progress, a step forward in Lewiston’s efforts to reclaim the heart of the city left vacant when the mills closed. But for generations of families from Lewiston, Auburn and around the region, there are happy memories of the once-grand Empire. Now, it’s nothing but a dilapidated hulk awaiting its final curtain call. Author Stephen King, who visited the theater as a boy, has written about the Empire, using it in “Hearts in Atlantis.”

The book is a collection of five short stories that are woven together as a coming-of-age narrative where the idyllic innocence of youth is replaced with the malice of men and the scars of war.

Like the characters in King’s stories, Lewiston is growing and changing. Saying goodbye to the Empire Theater – for what it once was and not what it is now – induces a dose of nostalgia.