WATERVILLE — Colby College freshmen toured downtown Waterville on Saturday to get their bearings in a part of the city that is likely to change so much that they might need another tour of it by the time they graduate.

The college expects to build a dormitory and retail space in The Concourse, it has bought other buildings for redevelopment, and it hired a full-time director of commercial real estate last spring. Also, other entrepreneurs have bought existing buildings with the intention of upgrading them or removing them for new construction.