Not everybody who moves into downtown Lewiston gets a news conference, a city councilor delivering an invocation, and Jimmy Simones, Chip Morrison, the police chief, senatorial staffers, and journalists munching appetizers in their kitchen.

Then again, Eric and Carrie Agren are proving they are certainly not everybody.

In February, these newest downtown denizens are opening Fuel, an upscale neo-French bistro inside the historic – and extensively renovated – Lyceum Hall on Lisbon Street. On Wednesday, they revealed a portion of their building would also be earmarked for L/A Arts to use for permanent exhibit space.

They also guided a sizable crowd of well-wishers, dignitaries and observers around their palatial 5,000-square-foot residence on Lyceum Hall’s second floor, in which the phrase “shock and awe” could be used to illustrate the prevalent facial expressions reacting to the couple’s plush living arrangements.

If Fuel’s food is half as nice as the Agrens’ interior design, Lewiston-Auburn should get ready for a real treat. Inside the once-dilapidated Lyceum Hall, the Agrens have created a model for downtown redevelopment, and how relationships between business, government and nonprofits should work.

Lisbon Street needs this jolt, as the perception of the city’s once-bustling main thoroughfare is one of decay. A recent New Yorker article about Lewiston described the strip as “shuttered,” victimized by the vacating of mills that the author, William Finnegan, graciously described as “crumbling hulks.”

Something needs to ignite a change of view. Fuel couldn’t be more aptly named.

A successful debut by the restaurant could become a catalyst for further Lisbon Street redevelopment, in the same vein as Fishbones and Davinci’s have become testaments to the potential of the Bates Mill. The Agrens and Fuel can prove what many suspect: Lisbon Street is a sleeping giant.

Andrew Harris, the exuberant executive of L/A Arts, gushed over the Agrens’ investment and made an ambitious statement. The first exhibit, he said, which would be Maine Public Broadcasting Network’s annual juried show, will get “those people used to going to Portland coming this way to see what’s happening.”

As well they should. Portland’s rising prices, and L-A’s proximity, make our downtown ripe for projects. The Agrens, for example, are exactly “those people” Harris described. Eric Agren told the Sun Journal that Portland was his first choice, but the potential and property values of L-A brought him home. (He’s originally from Auburn.)

Downtown Lewiston will never be mistaken for New York or Chicago, or even Portland. Agren knows it, and described Fuel appropriately on Wednesday. “We don’t want to make it fancy-fancy,” he said “Just well-done.”

That’s all we can hope for, along with the restaurant’s long-term success. Fuel could kindle development on Lisbon Street, and warm L-A’s future with its flames.