LEWISTON – It could be several months before crews begin knocking down the massive Bates Mill No. 5 building.

City Budget and Purchasing Director Norm Beauparlant said he hoped to finish writing the proposal request for demolishing the saw-toothed building at Main and Lincoln streets by June.

“We’ve taken down some old mill buildings in the past, so we know what this kind of proposal should look like,” he said. “But there’s a little more involved with this building. All that information needs to be passed along to contractors before we can start taking bids.”

If the city does begin taking bids in June, it won’t be able to pick a contractor until July.

“Depending on how quickly they can get started, I wouldn’t imagine they’d be able to get going before mid-August,” Beauparlant said. “And then, depending on what kind of equipment they’ll choose to throw at the building, demolition could take several months.”

Councilors voted earlier this month to begin taking proposals to demolish the massive building that looms over the downtown. Beauparlant said he began getting calls the next day. So far, he’s heard from 10 demolition experts from as far away as Minnesota, Ohio and Ontario.

“They’re very interested in the work, but they’re not really familiar with the building itself,” Beauparlant said. “They’re thinking of a regular New England mill building, with a lot of wood and pretty small footprint.”

But Bates Mill No. 5 is different. For starters, it’s low to the ground but covers a wide area. It has more than 350,000 square feet of usable space inside but very little wood.

“It’s mostly concrete, which was very different at the time,” Beauparlant said. The building was designed by industrial architect Albert Kahn and opened in 1914. The top floor, immediately under the distinctive saw-tooth roof, housed as many as 300 Jacquard looms during the Bates Co.’s heyday.

“And it covers a wide area, unlike other mill buildings,” he said. That could be a factor in how the building is eventually demolished. Experts he’s talked to so far have said using explosives to implode the building might not be the best way to go.

“Implosion works best for taller buildings that need to come down on tight corners, without disturbing those next door,” he said. “What they’ve said is the best way might be to bring in heavy equipment and just dismantle it piece by piece.”

Federal grants helped pay to remove much of the asbestos and other hazardous materials inside the building, but Beauparlant said there might still be some asbestos tiles on the roof. That could affect any demolition bids.

But the biggest question is what would happen to an electricity-generating turbine in the building’s basement. Although the building belongs to the city, the unused generator belongs to Florida Power and Light.

“It would be easier to demolish all of it, including the turbine room, too,” he said. “But we can work around it if we have to. We can demolish nine-tenths of the structure and leave the turbine, but we’d need to add some walls and roof on to protect it from the weather.”

He expects there will be many bidders, however. The building is full of old metal that could bring in a lot of money in salvage, depending on the salvage market. Initial estimates said the work would cost between $1.5 and $3 million.

“If they factor in the salvage prices to their bids, I think the final price will still come in around that range,” he said.