LEWISTON – Local developer Travis Soule was arrested on a drunken-driving charge early Friday after police stopped him near the prime property he owns at Island Point.

Soule, 43, of New Gloucester, was arrested at Main Street and Island Avenue and charged with driving while intoxicated and driving without a license.

Police said an officer pulled Soule’s vehicle over about 3 a.m. on Main Street just short of the Longley Bridge. The officer said there was evidence that Soule was drunk.

It was his third drunken-driving arrest since 1996.

He was arrested Feb. 28, 2005, after police said he crashed twice in separate Auburn locations, leaving behind a trail of oil and antifreeze.

The District Attorney’s Office prosecuted that case as a felony because of a previous drunken driving arrest in 1996.

In the 1996 case Soule, a security guard at the Oxford Plains Speedway at the time, was accused of driving 100 mph in downtown Portland in a BMW. According to court records, Soule lost control of the car and slammed into a tree, injuring a passenger. Police said Soule’s blood-alcohol level was 0.18 percent when he crashed, more than double the legal limit of 0.08.

He later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five months in jail.

Soule was also convicted of the 2005 charge in Auburn and ordered to serve a year in jail. Most of the sentence was suspended, however, and he served 14 days behind bars in April 2006.

When he was stopped Friday morning, police said Soule was driving without a license, which had been revoked due to the 2005 charge.

He was free on bail Friday night.

Soule is a key figure in efforts to develop the spot where the Libbey Mill once stood.

In recent months, Soule has said he planned to redevelop Cowan Mill near Island Point for condominiums and a restaurant. The area is just north of the spot city officials and other developers hope will someday be home to a 100-room hotel.