SPRINGFIELD - A $10 million proposed addiction treatment center in the city's North End is not going to be an easy sell to residents, based on overwhelming neighborhood response at a meeting on the topic Wednesday evening.

Even Hampden County Sheriff Michael J. Ashe, one of the county's most affable and seasoned politicians, could not quell the resentful tone that met a presentation about the prospective new spot for the former Howard Street treatment center, displaced by the MGM casino project.

The new proposed site is a vacant lot at the corners of Wason Avenue and Plainfield Street, wedged between a neighborhood and a development chiefly filled with Baystate Health medical office buildings.

Ashe, his staff and developer Thomas Henshon made a pitch to residents emphasizing the critical need for the services at the facility, its professionalism and its track record in the South End before it was ousted by the casino project.

A rendering provided by Ashe's team showed an approximately 52,000-square-foot facility fronting Plainfield Street and with a facade that would blend into the majority of the buildings in the area.

"This is not a jail. This is not a house of correction. This is an education and treatment facility," Ashe told a crowd of around 200, including more than a half-dozen hecklers with signs that read "my house is not your back yard" and similar messages.

Program director Della Blake told the crowd the program is tightly controlled and residents' schedules are dictated by treatment and programming from morning 'til night.

"Our clients get up at 6 o'clock in the morning; they have chores, there is a dress code; there is programming all day," said Blake, an assistant superintendent with the sheriff's department.

Many of those in attendance were not sold, nevertheless.

"Those are very nice drawings but the bottom line is we are in a neighborhood ... where there are family homes," said Michael Rivas, a resident of Demond Street. "Regardless of whatever you want to call it ... it's still a jail."

Many asked whether the project was a foregone conclusion, since the state Department of Capital and Asset Management chose the site after an invitation for proposals.

The sheriff's department found itself in a crisis after its cherry-picked developer bailed out of the project earlier this year, leaving the program potentially homeless. A temporary site has been established at the former Holyoke Geriatric Authority. But, Ashe has been adamant that he wants the permanent site to remain in Springfield.

One woman demanded to know if the project was going to be foisted on the neighborhood whether they liked it or not.

"Let's put it this way: Sheriff Ashe would like go to this site but there's been no permitting process started or anything like that," Ashe said.

"Why the clean-up, then?" the woman asked, referring to the sprucing up of the site around two weeks ago. Residents said it was formerly overgrown and filled with trash.

"Well, let's say we wanted to put our best foot forward," Ashe responded, drawing cynical chuckles from the crowd.

Residents vowed to continue to oppose the project with upcoming meetings and a petition drive that has already drawn 400 signatures.

Developer Thomas Henshon attended the meeting, and said afterward that he intends to discount the square-footage cost for development in a high-rent district. He estimated that he would charge approximately 20 percent less than he would another tenant.

"I believe in the program. It's good work. I've been to a graduation. I wanted to see what I was getting myself into," said Henshon, president of Pearson Companies Inc.

He said his company has been in Western Massachusetts for 40 years and has built 500 buildings including schools, a YMCA and Cyr Arena in Forest Park. Henshon appeared slightly dejected as he left the meeting.

"We are going to add a gym on with a separate entrance for the public, but that didn't come out," he said.

Ashe said a proposed 10-year lease with the state is on the table.