AUBURN — After a frantic month of meetings that included walks through the underbelly of the aging Great Falls School, leaders from the Community Little Theatre believe they can save at least part of the Academy Street complex.

It's a message they plan to take to the Auburn City Council's first meeting of 2011, scheduled for Jan.3.

"This may be the 'Merry Christmas and Happy New Year' we were looking for," Karen Mayo, president of the theater company's board of directors, said.

For more than a decade, the Community Little Theatre has wanted a permanent home under its control, something it has never had as a renter to the city. The proposal would give the company a long-term lease on the property and the freedom to shape the theater and its building to its needs.

Details of the proposal are still uncertain.

City Manager Glenn Aho said he planned to disclose specifics of a proposal to city councilors via e-mail. But he said a Dec. 21 meeting between his office and CLT went well. Mayo agreed.

"I'm fingers crossed and pretty positive," she said.

It's a long way from where both sides were only a month ago.

On Nov. 15, the council voted to raze the entire complex in an effort to cut its losses on the aging and costly old building. The news surprised many of the building's 14 tenants, which range from pottery and dance teachers to a nonprofit group that shares donated supplies and offers job training. None are as large or as long-lasting as the theater company.

Community Little Theater is 70 years old and has spent more than 20 years in its current home.

When the council made its announcement, the company held a public hearing and formed a building committee that began a top-to-bottom analysis of the property. Board member and architect Bill Hamilton examined the building's systems and soundness, including whether the theater wing might survive if the older classroom section was torn down.

"Believe me, we know the building," Mayo said.

But the focus of the analysis went wider than that. Members of the building committee have looked at several locations in Lewiston as alternatives to Great Falls, in case an agreement cannot be made.

"We had to go both ways," she said. Among the properties that they have looked at were both former schools and former churches. "But there have been few places that address our needs the way Great Falls does."

Besides a stage, the theater company requires storage for sets and costumes, room to move off-stage, lighting and sound, and the infrastructure for heating and electricity.

Aho said he hopes something can be done. The last meeting between the sides went well because city councilors gave him what he needed at a workshop the night before," he said.

"They told me, 'Private money can save the building,'" Aho said.

At the same meeting, Mayo outlined the theater company's initial proposal, which calls for the theater company's 99-year lease of the space in exchange for a single dollar.

Either way, the theater company will continue its slate of performances.

If the theater company must move, it hopes to have a deal in place soon so any renovations can be started as soon as possible. Likewise, if the theater company stays, some work will likely be done to modernize the facade.

"Work would need to be done in phases," she said.

Ideally, the theater will be in its permanent home by late 2011 or early 2012, Mayo said.

dhartill@sunjournal.com