LEWISTON — Councilors added two more downtown buildings to the list of demolition projects Tuesday night.

Councilors agreed to condemn buildings at 159 Pine St. and 226 Oak St. despite a pitch to keep one building off the list.

Attorney Ben Campo, representing Bayview Loan Servicing, said he asked councilors to grant the company time to foreclose and sell the Pine Street building. Bayview holds the mortgage on the property.

“The bank believes it can have an auction on that property in a month,” Campo told councilors. “If it’s able to and prices that property at a reasonable price, it gives a developer an opportunity to purchase property that could be profitable.”

The city condemned the building in February, according to Code Enforcement Officer Tom Maynard. It’s been vacant for a long time, with much of the heating and plumbing pipes plundered by copper thieves, walls and stairs are heavily deteriorated and the building is full of trash and refuse.

“It is my opinion that this building does not have a potential for redevelopment,” Maynard said. “I just cannot see it.”

Councilors told Campo the bank’s effort was too late.

“Bayview may be able to get rid of this property in 30 days,” Councilor Mark Cayer said. “But that would be the end of Bayview. Maybe it would be left with a good developer, maybe not. But we could end up right back here with the same problem.”

The decision begins a streamlined process that ends up in the building being torn down.

The city demolished the building at 10 College St. on June 19, the first of the current wave of demolitions scheduled this summer. It was followed by the 305 Bates St. a week later. Buildings at 81 Lincoln St. and 67 Oak St. — immediately behind the 10 College St. lot — are next on the list. They should be gone this month.

Councilors added 357 Sabattus St. to the list June 5.

And that’s only a start to the city’s list of abandoned and failing buildings. The city has a list of 50 to80 buildings that are vacant and have been for number of years.

Lewiston code officials have been working to identify and demolish dangerous and unstable tenements while working from a list of condemned or vacant buildings around the downtown.

The city has set aside $337,000 in the 2011-12 budget to help demolish the buildings and $312,000 in the 2012-13 budget aimed at demolitions.

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