NORWAY — The renovation of the Norway Opera House will continue to move forward: Voters accepted a $400,000 state grant to renovate first-floor storefronts at a special town meeting Thursday.

Voters approved the Communities for Maine’s Future grant on a 27-4 vote following nearly 50 minutes of discussion and questions about the plan.

The renovation plan is part of a four-year effort beginning in September 2007 to save the Main Street building whose roof had partially collapsed.

“We don’t know if that’s the best strategy,” Town Manager David Holt said at the special meeting. “We know it’s the best we can think of.” 

One of the next steps is to deed the 1894 historic building, including a clock tower, to the nonprofit Norway Opera House Corp. for $1, Holt said. The corporation in turn will seek a loan from Norway Savings Bank using, in part, state and federal tax credits to offset the amount by as much as several hundred thousands dollars. The group will simultaneously continue its fundraising efforts.

Once the loan is secured, officials say a specific plan will be put in place for the renovation of the first-floor storefronts using local contractors and subcontractors. By June 2012, the stores are expected to be ready to be leased.

Dennis Gray, president of the Norway Opera House Corp., said there was no firm business plan, but the group anticipates small retail businesses leasing the storefronts.

The grant money will be used to refurbish the basement area, for wiring and plumbing and to bring the basement and ground floor up to code, according to town officials.

Last year, voters authorized selectmen to take the Norway Opera House property by eminent domain after a portion of the roof collapsed on Sept. 21, 2007. The collapse severed a sprinkler pipe, which flooded first-floor, occupied spaces and compromised the building’s stability. The building since has remained vacant.

The 17,600-square-foot building sits on about a quarter-acre parcel. The property includes a one-story attached building, a three-story building with a full basement and a four-story clock tower with a historic clock and bell.

Holt told voters at the public hearing prior to the vote that the town gave the edict that the building should be fixed, but not with taxpayer money, if possible.

“I don’t know of any other direction,” Holt said, when a few voters questioned the town’s financial involvement in the project. Holt said it was clear that the Board of Selectmen do not want to use any town money on the building and the town should not own the building.

Whether the Norway Opera House Corp. chooses to sell the building or oversee its operation was unknown, but Holt said the town may seek to buy the clock tower if the building is sold to a private entity.

ldixon@sunjournal.com