LEWISTON – After three years of wrangling, developer Travis Soule finally has what he needs to get his Island Point project off the ground: financial backing and a letter of intent from a hotel chain that wants to locate there.

“From our side, the private side, we have equity investors, and we have the hotel part,” Soule said. “We’re ready to get into the ground.”

Soule won’t reveal which hotel chain has signed on, but he did say it was comparable in amenities to the $10 million Hilton Garden Inn across the river in Auburn.

Now Soule and the city have to dust off an agreement they signed in the summer of 2005 to jointly develop the spit of land that juts into the Androscoggin River. The parcel is home to the remnants of the Libbey Mill, the Cowan Mill, the former CMP building and a substation. Soule’s plan would convert the two mill buildings into upscale condominiums, bring a mix of retail and office space to the other buildings and site a high-end hotel there as well.

Under terms of the original agreement, the city was willing to commit $7 million in infrastructure improvements to the project, and Soule and his partner, Vince Lobozzo, would ante up $21 million.

But the original agreement expired last summer. Now Soule is approaching the city again, hoping it will be as receptive to his plan as it was two years ago.

“This will change the whole face of the city and take the last unaddressed piece of the city and transform it,” said Soule, referring to Lewiston’s downtrodden gateway at the Longley bridge.

Lincoln Jeffers, development director for the city, said he was planning to meet with City Administrator Jim Bennett on Tuesday afternoon to discuss Island Point. Any new deal will have to be brought to the City Council for evaluation and a final decision.

“It should be a break-even or better deal for the city … it needs to make sense financially,” said Jeffers. “But it’s a great project with high visibility.”

Jeffers said he was optimistic that a new joint development agreement could be reached, but noted things have changed in the development world since the original agreement. Tax policy and valuation changes have occurred at the local level while the state has adopted more stringent environmental regulations.

“There are a lot of elements in the mix,” said Jeffers, who expects that a revised agreement could go before the City Council in the next 30 to 45 days.

On the private side, a downturn in the real estate market made financing Island Point harder than expected.

“Part of the challenge for Travis was the money when the housing market went soft,” said Jeffers. “To his credit, he continued to work and find financial partners.”

Soule said the project has dominated his life for the past three years and he’s excited to see something tangible at last. The hotel’s letter of intent crystallized it for him.

“It’s turning into a real deal, starting to get some legs,” he said.

If all goes well with the city, Soule hopes to begin work on the condo and hotel project simultaneously – a departure from the original agreement, which outlined developing the condos first and then bringing in a hotel by 2012. The hotel was also initially tied to the redevelopment of Mill No. 5 into a convention center, but that’s no longer the case, said Soule.

“It’s a self-contained project,” he said citing market studies that show the area can support another hotel without the boost from a convention center.

The condos would be developed in stages, ranging from moderately high-end to very high-end, he said. He said he showed his financiers Bates Mill renovations and brought them to the open house at Eric and Carrie Agren’s rehabbed loft-style home on Lisbon Street to demonstrate what can be done with historic buildings.

“These spaces have a uniqueness … they are just cool,” he said, noting the bricks, beams and spectacular views of the Island Point buildings. “They can’t be replicated … that’s the exciting part.”