By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – TD Banknorth will announce an expansion of its Bates Mill operations this morning.

Work is already under way on the expansion in the north end of the Mill No. 3 building. Gov. John Baldacci will join bank officials and the city of Lewiston at an 11 a.m. news conference there to make the project official.

Plans call for a 51,000-square-foot expansion on three floors, making room for offices, file storage space, bathrooms and an upgraded heating and air conditioning system. The expansion is costing $203,000, according to building permits.

TD Banknorth, the parent company of the former Peoples Heritage Bank, has been expanding in Lewiston since 1998.

The company already employs 1,072 people in Lewiston, and 700 of them work at the Bates Mill, according to Lincoln Jeffers, assistant to Lewiston’s city administrator. About 165 work in Mill No. 3 now.

The company first took up space in Mill No. 3 in 1999. The building is just off Mill Street and near the center of Bates complex. The company doubled its presence there in August 2001 with a 38,000-square-foot addition, taking over the southern half of building.

In June, the company brought in 50 more employees to its customer service operation on Mollison Way, just off Main Street in the northern part of the city. That office’s 50 employees handle customer service calls. The operations in the Bates Mill have been mostly back-office functions, including record-keeping and processing.

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