LEWISTON – City councilors said they were skeptical about converting the massive Bates Mill No. 5 into a convention center. A handful of residents were skeptical about tearing the mill down.

“One of the best ways to keep this community vibrant economically is to have a few things that are showpieces for New England,” said Auburn resident Bonnie Lounsbury. “I think Mill No. 5 can be that showpiece.”

They urged councilors to leave the structure intact for the time being, while marketing it nationally.

“It makes no sense for the city to tear the building down now,” Lounsbury said. “What will sell the site is not a vacant lot, but the existing building.”

City councilors officially received a report from a 15-member task force that studied possible uses for the saw-toothed-roofed building along Main and Canal streets. Councilors accepted the report Tuesday, thanked the people who wrote it, and officially disbanded the group.

And they promised to review all of the options presented.

“We have a job to do, and we are going to do it,” Councilor Tom Peters said.

The building is the last part of the Bates Mill Enterprise Complex that the city still owns. The site has been considered for a convention center for years. The city spent $315,060 on the building in 2006 and $179,667 in 2007. The 2007 spending was offset by parking revenue and a short-term lease of the space.

The previous City Council created the task force in March 2007 to study possible uses for the mill. The group has looked at city plans, past studies and commissioned marketing studies of its own.

The task force’s report and appendices are on its Web site, at batesmill5.blogspot.com. It includes downloadable copies of a 2003 convention center economic analysis, structural and concrete analysis, letters to the editor and newspaper columns.

Demolishing the building would cost about $4.15 million, according to the report. Constructing a convention center could cost between $40 and $58 million, but would create jobs and spawn other economic impacts, attracting more hotels, retail and restaurants.

The task force also studied the costs associated with marketing the mill for private development. It estimates that would cost about $200,000.

Convention skeptics

Councilor Robert Reed said he was skeptical about the costs of taking on $40 million in debt to convert the building to a convention center. Even split up over 20 years, the annual debt payments and costs to the city would amount to well over $3.5 million.

“Even if we built 10 new hotels with restaurants and 14 additional restaurants, we’d only generate about $2.6 million in new revenues,” Reed said. “How could we be expected to run nearly a $1 million deficit?”

And Councilor Denis Theriault said he is worried that the structure could not support redevelopment. Between aging concrete, last century building standards and other site issues, he expects redeveloping the building would be much more expensive than even the task force suggested.

“You think $30 to 40 million to redevelop this? Theriault said. “Dream on.”

Several architects attended the meeting to urge councilors to preserve the building. Like Lounsbury, they insisted the building has historic value and could attract private investment.

But Lewiston resident Bruce Damon said they were wrong.

“The city has owned that building for 14 years, and if private business thought it could be developed for a profit they would have stepped forward,” the 22 Buttonwood Lane resident said. “Now is the time to take a step for the future and prepare that site for development. It’s time to give developers a clean site that they can build the way they want to.”