AUBURN — After sitting vacant since a devastating fire in 2018, one of the city’s most historic and recognizable buildings will be redeveloped into a residential program for individuals returning from incarceration.

The City Council this week approved a credit enhancement agreement for the developers behind the project at the Charles Jordan House at 63 Academy St., which served as a boarding house for many years until it was heavily damaged by fire.

The $3 million project by LB Development Partners and the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition will renovate the Victorian-era home into 12 residential units with a shared kitchen and living spaces, and supervised programming and services for residents.

The Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition, founded in 2007, is a nonprofit that works to improve conditions for inmates, former inmates, their families, and victims of crime.

Dan Black, a developer with LB Development Partners, said Thursday that with the city’s support and other financing in place, the team is “moving forward to break ground this fall.”

Black said through LB Development, he works with nonprofits across the state to help develop affordable housing. The Charles Jordan House project is being financed through a mix of supportive housing funds from MaineHousing and historic preservation tax credits.

The building, placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, has been in the LeBrun family for three generations. Leading up to the fire, the 10-room boarding house offered rooms by the week, and its clientele often included people returning to the community from incarceration. The house had nine tenants at the time of the blaze.

According to Glen Holmes, director of community development, the use of state and federal historic tax credits require for-profit ownership for five years. During that time, the credit enhancement agreement from the city will reimburse taxes paid by the developer, and after five years, the property will transfer to the prisoner advocacy coalition and become tax-exempt.

“Without this support, the project is not financially feasible and the building faces possible demolition — along with the loss of a significant piece of Auburn’s history,” he said in a memo to the council.

Councilor Tim Cowan said, “Without this approach, it would likely have to be demolished,” and that now it will allow the historic building to be “used as the same purpose as it was before.”

Black said Lisa LeBrun, the building’s owner, did an “incredible job” shoring up the house following the fire, so that the structure could sustain the last few years as its future was decided.

“A lot of our ability to move forward is due to the work that she and her family did to preserve the building, even in its partially burned state,” he said. “That being said, we’re having to do a pretty substantial (rehabilitation).”

He said that includes a complete rebuild of the rear portion of the property.

A city memo calls the house “one of Maine’s most iconic Second Empire style buildings,” which was featured in Virginia McAlester’s “A Field Guide to American Houses.”

The Victorian home, on the corner of Academy and Myrtle streets, was also known as the Deacon French House and, according to the National Register of Historic Places, was “one of Maine’s most elegant examples of a wooden Second Empire mansion.”

The Register called it “one of the most ornate Victorian houses in the Lewiston-Auburn area, if not the State of Maine. It is significant not only for its outstanding architectural features, but also for the fact that it clearly demonstrates the craftsmanship of the local Maine builder,” Charles Jordan.

The house, built in 1880, was built by Jordan “as proof of his skill as a designer and builder,” according to the Register. Other buildings designed and built by Jordan’s firm included The Stanley Dry Plate Factory and the Avon Mill. He also designed and built many of the more-ornate homes from that period in the Auburn area.

On Monday, Councilor Rick Whiting said the effort to find a way to restore the building was “difficult but worthwhile.” He said the building’s cupola is part of a recognizable skyline as someone drives into downtown Auburn.

“It’s a one-of-a-kind property, and it’s great we can help with the restoration,” he said.