LEWISTON — Whatever gets built on the site of the Bates Mill Building No. 5 — whether it’s a park, an office building or a retail development — should echo the building’s history and the iconic sawtooth roof.

That was the opinion of at least one group Wednesday night after they’d looked at possible scenarios for using and reusing the space and re-energizing Lewiston’s Riverfront Island.

“The building, maybe it could have been saved years ago, but now it’s done,” said Planning Board member Bruce Damon. “We could have a building there with a false front that looks like Mill No. 5 from Main Street but is efficient and new in back. But what we have to make people realize is that though Bates Mill No. 5 may be gone, its memory is not.”

Economic, design and planning consultants presented three scenarios for the future of Bates Mill No. 5 at a public hearing Wednesday night. The first kept the building, but redeveloped it as a busy office or convention center space.

The second removed the building and replaced it with a significant downtown park — complete with some sort of water feature, sculptures and some sort of open-air concert venue. The third replaced the building with a retail development.

A mix of all three — preserving parts of the building and leaving room for a public space and some retail — was most popular for some of the people at the meeting.

David Spillane, principal planner of Boston-firm Goody Clancy, and his team of planners will turn those comments into a workable master plan for the riverfront island. That’s the land between the river and Lewiston’s canals, from Island Point to Cedar Street. It includes the Bates Mill complex, as well as Simard-Payne Memorial Park, the Franco-American Heritage Center and Museum L-A.

“In the end, Bates Mill No. 5 may not be the focus of the development,” Spillane said. “You may find the focus someplace else, in Simard-Payne or Museum L-A.”

Much of the final plan will be devoted to the rest of the Riverfront Island. Most agreed that the area needed better access to the Androscoggin River, with a Lewiston riverwalk that would mirror the one in Auburn.

They also liked the idea of creating better links between Lisbon Street and the riverfront.

“So, 75 percent of the plan is about things people agree about,” Spillane said. “Sometimes, we forget that there are more things people really do agree on, and those are the easiest things.”

But most of Wednesday night’s discussion was devoted to the hardest part: What to do with Bates Mill No. 5.

Economic consultant Sarah Woodworth, of W-ZHA Inc. said the city could generate a significant buzz if it could find a way to renovate the existing building.

“In the world of urban revitalization, buzz is very, very valuable,” she said. “With people talking about what happened in Lewiston at Bates Mill No 5 comes, often, money and developers and investors. They want to get in on it, in the beginning. That is a real economic development benefit.”

But the renovations would have to preserve the original structure as much as possible to qualify for historical renovation tax credits. Removing too much of the original building would reduce the tax credits.

“One thing that makes it an interesting investment is that you can write off a lot of those costs using that 45 percent tax credit,” she said. “But if you start messing around with that building to make it more marketable or to make it smaller, you move into 10 percent tax credit and you lose some of that investor return.”

Similarly, creating a downtown park or open space would create a good amount of regional buzz.

“It says what is happening in Lewiston is exciting, and I want to be part of it and I want to experience it,” she said.

Both come with hurdles. They’d need significant local or investor money, for example.

The third option, creating a downtown retail space, would carry fewer risks but the payoff might not be as great.

“It’s not a dramatic space that redefines your front door, but it could be pretty good,” Spillane said. “If they were good-looking buildings, they would enhance Main Street.”

The key, Woodworth said, is doing it right. Any project — whether it’s a park or a retail development — is that it must be significant.

“Remember, the reason we think there is a market is not only because of the number of households and the visibility of the site,” she said. “That doesn’t mean anything could work. If it looks like a strip shopping center, it won’t work.”

Spillane agreed.

“Grass and trees won’t do it,” he said. “The impacts we are talking about don’t come with just grass and trees. You might get a nice park there, but it won’t do the things we are describing. It needs a higher level of ambition, and that comes with a cost.”

A final draft of the plan is expected at the end March.

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