LEWISTON – The saw-tooth-roofed Bates Mill No. 5 will be the backdrop Friday morning for an announcement of the 2007 most endangered historic properties in Maine.

Maine Preservation, working with the state Historical Society, tries to draw attention to historic buildings and save them from demolition.

“It’s primarily awareness about the building, and providing better, more focused attention,” said Roxanne Eflin, Maine Preservation’s executive director.

The group has named 70 endangered properties since 1996. Of those, 22 have been successfully redeveloped, including the former St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Lewiston, now the Franco-American Heritage Center at St. Mary’s.

“We look for a historic building that is in danger in some way, and we also look for buildings that have a community of people willing to work on them,” Eflin said.

Maine Preservation representatives wouldn’t say which buildings would be named on Friday, but they described them as diverse buildings in Androscoggin, Aroostook, Cumberland, Hancock, Oxford and Somerset counties.

The selections range from old industrial buildings to personal residences. Each qualifies for a $500 grant to help pay for a structural assessment.

City leaders have talked about tearing down Bates Mill No. 5. The massive building is the last part of the Bates Mill Enterprise Complex that the city still owns. The site has been considered for a convention center for years, but nothing has happened. It costs $400,000 a year to maintain the building, according to city officials.

The city set aside $3 million in the 2009 capital improvement plan to pay for demolition of the building.