WATERVILLE — Since developers razed the buildings at the corner of Temple and Front streets in 2025, little has happened to develop a multi-million dollar mixed-use complex there in the city’s downtown neighborhood.

But on Tuesday, the city council voted to authorize the city manager to apply for a Maine Community Development Block Grant for the infrastructure improvements Head of Falls Village requires.

The project, estimated to cost between $30 million and $35 million, would cover 1.7 acres that’s within view of the Kennebec River. It would consist of a 33,800-square-foot building facing Temple Street with office space on the first and second floors and 18 apartments on upper floors; and a 49,400-square-foot building on Front Street, with retail space on the ground floor and 45 apartments on upper floors.

The buildings would include workforce apartments, funded partially by MaineHousing, which limits occupancy to residents with household incomes at or below 80% of the area median income level for Kennebec County.

When planning board members approved the project, they said Waterville would benefit from new housing. At the time, developer Todd Alexander said he wanted Head of Falls Village to become part of downtown, and be a place people want to go and hang out.

While progress has been slow, people working on the project are excited.

For Garvan Donegan, president and CEO of the Central Maine Growth Council, seeing Waterville’s downtown come to life as developers lay the groundwork for the project has made it all the more exciting.

“It feels like a really good downtown right now, particularly from where it came from. You look a Thursday night … the restaurants are busy. There’s new businesses in town. We see the visitorship increasing,” Donegan said. “So to have the opportunity to work on a project like this, and to keep on that momentum; this is what, in economic development planning, you live for, really.”

As Waterville’s downtown has been growing, environmental cleanup work has continued at Head of Falls. The city and developers have continued to seek funding.

The project requires hefty infrastructure improvements, but those align with the city’s goals, which include strengthening housing stability, growing the tax base through development and enhancing quality of life with improved mobility.

“There’s been a lot of importance and emphasis on thinking about the downtown, the community, and not just building a white box to put people in, but really creating a community that is desirable and is attractive,” Donegan said. “Something the city and the downtown can be proud of.”

These include a stormwater management system, domestic water systems, sanitary lines and electric, gas and cable systems. They also include aboveground improvements, like parking, lighting, sidewalks and a shared street, which would serve as a focal point of the project and provide a community space.

The grant would cover $500,000 of the approximately $1.6 million infrastructure package, the rest of which Alexander said the city will cover.

The infrastructure improvements can be mutually beneficial. Earlier this year, Waterville received an $850,000 grant to support downtown development, and Alexander said that as the city improves downtown, it makes underground infrastructure easier to bring in.

“They’re going to open up the streets, and there’s going to be a lot of construction activity,” Alexander said. “So it makes sense to try to do all of the infrastructure work in those streets … at the same time.”

The project is slow-moving in part because it requires so much financing. Alexander said projects like this one, which involve multiple buildings with commercial and residential uses, are especially difficult.

“We take a project that people want, and that has merit, and the community is behind, and we try to take it from a point of not being financially feasible to a point of being financially feasible,” Alexander said.

The project received $500,000 in CDBG funds for the environmental abatement work within the buildings and their demolition. That work was completed in 2025, and the Kennebec County Council of Governments also awarded $500,000 for soil remediation — the project’s next step, which will likely happen at the same time as the infrastructure package work.

Alexander expects the infrastructure improvements to happen over a 16-month period. He said people will notice a difference when it’s over. They’ll be able to see the sidewalks will be complete, and the sites will be ready for building construction.

“These projects are hard and costly and for the bold,” Donegan said. “They require a great amount of investment, but would also result in a great amount of economic output.”

The project is expected to bring 273 jobs during the construction phase, and support 86 new jobs long-term in the commercial spaces planned for the buildings.

The team working on Head of Falls Village isn’t discouraged by the slow pace. Finding funding takes time, but it also means building a strong base for a difficult project. Alexander and Donegan are confident that they’ll deliver a strong final project.

The developers have not yet submitted a building permit application or plans for this project.