LEWISTON – City officials Thursday unveiled plans for a $20 million development that could create up to 300 jobs and revive a long-neglected section of Lisbon Street that serves as the gateway to downtown Lewiston.

Gov. John Baldacci joined local leaders at a news conference to spell out details of the project.

Plans call for construction of adjacent office buildings that would be occupied by Oxford Networks, a Maine telephone and Internet company, and Northeast Bank, which would relocate its headquarters to the site.

In addition, the city plans to renovate a long-vacant building in the area and construct a 200- to 400-space parking garage.

The area, which sits along the main artery leading to the downtown business district, has been in blighted condition for years. Lower Lisbon Street is peppered with empty storefronts, and the few signs of commercial activity include adult bookstores, drug dealing and prostitution.

In addition to the new and renovated buildings, the project will provide new lighting, landscaping, sidewalks and underground utility lines, said Lincoln Jeffers, the city’s business development manager.

“It’s literally going to transform the gateway into the city,” he said, predicting that the revived area will blend almost seamlessly into the downtown section that was a recent target of redevelopment.

Estimates of private and public investment in the project total $20 million, with the city expected to borrow $7.5 million to finance its share.

Demolition work may begin as early as this summer and the Oxford Technology building could be completed by the end of 2004.

The entire project is expected to take three years.