AUBURN – With most of the preparation work and environmental cleanup at New Auburn’s old Vincent Bottling Co. building done, city and housing officials Friday kicked off construction work for their latest senior housing project.

Work on the Vincent Square is scheduled to continue through December, and officials from the Auburn Housing Authority said they’ll begin taking applications for units there on May 18.

When it’s finished, the building will be home to 17 one- and two-bedroom units, including four handicap-accessible apartments. Renovations would include building a new elevator for the three-story building. Crews have already finished building the shaft for the new elevator, according to Richard Whiting, executive director of the Auburn Housing Authority.

“They’ve actually been very busy,” Whiting said. “They’ve gutted the interior and removed the old boiler from the basement.”

Friday, officials cheered the project for helping to bring life back to New Auburn as well as providing elder housing.

“Any project in New Auburn is a good project because it’s bringing life back to this end of Main Street,” said City Manager Glenn Aho.

The housing authority began working to redevelop the old bottling plant in 2007, applying for tax credits through the Maine Housing Authority. The project will be paid for using proceeds from $2.6 million in Maine housing tax credits being marketed through the Northern New England Housing Fund.

Bangor Savings Bank is loaning another $2.5 million for the project.

The building first opened as the Vincent Bottling Co. in 1927, bottling soft drinks like Nehi and ginger ale for sale in Maine. It’s in the center of New Auburn, at the intersection of Mill, Main and South Main streets.

“Its builders showed great confidence in the future of New Auburn,” Whiting said. “They made a bold statement building a large, unique tan building right in the downtown.”

It still makes a statement, he said.

“There are some who say New Auburn is down and will not get back up,” he said. “I say, nonsense. New Auburn is a wonderful community that rose up before and is rising again.”