By Carol Coultas,Business Writer

LEWISTON – There could be a strong sense of deja vu for the new workers at the old Central Maine Power building on Main Street.

Pine Tree Teleservices opened a call center there – the first commercial tenant up and running in the new Island Point development project. Fifty employees are expected to staff the 30-seat, 24-hour call center.

Not so long ago, the building handled all the customer service calls for CMP.

“Before there were call centers, they had a call center,” said Travis Soule, whose Solo Properties is developing the Island Point project. “At one time there were 150 phone lines coming into one floor of the building.”

Soule said that when he was showing the property to Mark Sawyer, president of Pine Tree Teleservices, “He said, Oh my goodness’ and his jaw dropped” when Sawyer saw the former switching room.

The call center operation takes up about 6,000 square feet on the third floor of the building. The top floor is set aside for Solo Property offices and there’s another 6,000 square feet within the building to be leased.

The bottom floor of the building will be home to Espo’s Trattoria, an offspring of Portland’s Esposito’s Italian restaurant. Soule said he expects the restaurant will open by late summer.

Sawyer, son of longtime radio personality Bud Sawyer, is a Maine native who knew Soule when they were kids. The connection was renewed when Sawyer looked for a Maine location for his Florida-based company.

“I was excited when I heard about the Island Point project,” said Sawyer. “The developers have been great to work with, and the quality of the work force has exceeded my expectations.”

The call center provides inbound call services for a variety of clients, such as sales, data entry and some back-end customer service work. Pay ranges from $12 to $20 per hour, including commissions. There are still openings.

Sawyer has a background in telemarketing, having begun his career with Talk America in Portland during its early years. He said he expects the company will grow, and is negotiating with several companies for contracts now.

Solo Properties invested about $70,000 in preparing the space for the call center.

The Island Point project, located next to Great Falls and the Androscoggin River, includes the redevelopment of the former Libbey and Cowan mill sites. The project combines a mix of residential, office, restaurant and retail space in the once-industrial parcel.

Soule has also announced plans to build about 30 upscale condominiums in the former Cowan Mill. He hopes to begin construction on that phase of the development this summer.