SKOWHEGAN -- If there's weight on native son Edward Dillingham's shoulders, it doesn't show.

Dillingham, a 1985 Skowhegan Area High School graduate who has come home from Florida, is the new co-owner of the former Skowhegan Electronics building. Yes, that sagging wooden structure on the corner of Madison Avenue and Commercial Street, with the peeling paint.

The building that people driving down Madison Avenue might first notice in the downtown. The one everyone refers to as an "eyesore."

Dillingham and business partner Eric Schupp, who paid $17,000 for the three-story building, have a two-year plan to restore it, outside and then in. Their plan: an artist's studio on the third floor, Dillingham's residence on the second and a storefront on the first.

"For me, it was just something that was meant to be," said Dillingham, who designs and restores furniture. "I just sort of made a wish, and it came true."

Dillingham and Schupp purchased the building last summer from Christopher Ireland. Work has begun, with old siding ripped off the first floor, and the Commercial Street addition. Dillingham, who hopes for some grant money, also hopes that Glenn Steuber of Martin LeBlanc Builders of Madison can begin the outside renovation soon.

"My ideas are only as good as the people who can make them happen for me," Dillingham said.

Town officials are thrilled that the downtown's biggest negative might be turned into a positive. Randy Gray, code-enforcement officer for more than 20 years, said it has been sitting vacant for more than 20 years.

"Just to get rid of the blight would be remarkable," Gray said.

Jeffrey Hewett, the town's director of economic development, disagrees that limited parking in the downtown section of Madison Avenue will pose a problem for a retail business there. The municipal parking lot, Hewett pointed out, is just across Commercial Street.

"That building is one of the cornerstones of the downtown," Hewett said. "It is so visible. If he can get the outside of that building taken care of, every business in the downtown will benefit. The public is really focused on that building."

Town Manager John Doucette said that people will stop there -- if the business serves a real need.

"When you come down Madison Avenue, what's the first thing you see?" Doucette asked.

The building, built around 1840 by James Leavitt, has been home to some real Skowhegan history.

During World War II, Wallace's Radio Shop had a speaker on the outside, which still hangs there today. Traffic stopped outside to hear the announcement that the war had ended, and people listened to top-10 records outside.

The second floor was once home to a candy operation.

Hewett has estimated it might cost $400,000 to restore the building.

Dillingham isn't sure. But he recalls the day when Skowhegan's downtown was vibrant.

"I bought my first 45 (record) in here," he said. "I used to buy my school clothes at Stern's."

Conducting a tour of the three floors, Dillingham pointed to portions of the second-floor tin ceiling that have deteriorated. The culprit: leakage from the third floor, where the artist's studio was located. The floorboards there have rotted.

"This is what disturbs me the most," he said. "Water was gushing into the building when I was here last June, when it was so rainy."

The floors tilt, but that's of little concern to him.

"This building's going nowhere," he said. "We don't need to jack up the building. It just needs two or three days' work on the foundation."

Dillingham is taking all sorts of suggestions for the first floor, and to him, it's all good. Mindful that the building sits along the major U.S. Route 201 tourist route from Quebec, he has thought of The Vermont Country Store model.

"I do remember when this was a shopping district," he said, gazing out of a second-floor window. "I think it could be a shopping district again."

Larry Grard -- 861-9239

lgrard@centralmaine.com