Street of Dreams and Doubts Once a Thriving Commercial Hub, Lisbon Street Is in a State of Flux. Has the Time Come for It to Go Up or Down at Last? Local Business Owners Offer Their Thoughts.

Summary

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Fuel has walls full of votive candles, chocolate-toned decor and a waitstaff that looks like it was recruited from modeling camp. The seven-month-old restaurant serves dishes like frog legs and potato crusted halibut over wilted spinach. Owner Eric Agren usually works the floor; he's flirted with offering valet parking, unheard of in Lewiston. On weekends, it's reservation-required to get in the door.

Across the street is a decaying McCrory's department store that just got a city-ordered facelift: new plywood covering all the windows.

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Extract

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Street of Dreams and Doubts Once a Thriving Commercial Hub, Lisbon Street Is in a State of Flux. Has the Time Come for It to Go Up or Down at Last? Local Business Owners Offer Their Thoughts.

It's the most striking example on a street filled with contradictions. Just four blocks away: millions of dollars in new investment - new Northeast Bank, new Andover College, new Oxford Networks headquarters, and more - buttressed by pawn shops. Up and down the sidewalk are vacant windows, ethnic everything-shops and lavish, monied offices. After 100 years as a retail destination and nerve center, the downtown's become a collection of working professionals (mostly lawyers and bankers), service providers and empty storefronts, punctuated by new ventures that seem to c...

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