Lewiston has applied for a $200,000 federal cleanup grant to do environmental work that’s seen as an essential next step for the $70 million redevelopment of Bates Mill No. 5 by Platz Associates of Auburn.
The Lewiston Sun Journal reported that if the city’s application is successful, the funding would be used to complete environmental work at the largest and last building of the sprawling Bates Mill complex to be redeveloped, including removal of lead paint, asbestos and fluorescent light fixtures and ballasts.
Platz, an architectural, engineering and construction firm, has been involved in redevelopment of the complex’s 1.2 million square feet of vacant industrial space since 1997 occupying 12 acres along Canal Street in downtown Lewiston. At 350,000 square feet, Bates Mill No. 5 is considered architecturally unique, in part because it was designed by Albert Kahn, one of the foremost industrial architects of the early 20th Century.
Platz has been pursuing potential tenants ranging from existing businesses seeking to expand to start-ups.
City Administrator Ed Barrett told the newspaper that the city expects to hear if its application under the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s Brownfields Program is successful by this summer or fall.
