AUBURN — The city will move forward with a complete bus terminal and transportation facility somewhere downtown, councilors agreed Monday night.

Councilors and Economic Development Director Roland Miller would not say where the new station would be, but said the city is negotiating with private developers to close the deal.

“Just as soon as the private property owners have agreed, we can announce the location,” Miller said.

The Lewiston Auburn Transit Committee received a $250,000 grant from the Federal Transit Agency in 2002 to build a bus station. Original plans put the station alongside a proposed Great Falls Plaza garage in the parking lot near the Auburn Esplanade and Hilton Garden Inn.

That garage was not built, however, and the transit committee moved the hub for Auburn’s bus traffic to Spring Street, near Hannaford.

The committee moved the bus hub back to Great Falls Plaza this summer temporarily, in anticipation of the new bus station. The Great Falls Plaza stop has access to restrooms and waiting areas that Hannaford does not.

City Manager Clinton Deschene said the city will use up to $250,000 in Tax Increment Finance money to help pay for the center in addition to the grant money. That will pay for purchasing the property, building the structure and landscaping.

Councilor Belinda Gerry said she is very pleased.

“For years, we’ve tried to get a nice bus station like Lewiston,” Gerry said. “Now passengers can go and sit in an actual building when it’s cold, not a dugout.”

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