FARMINGTON – Morning coffee and conversation is still taking place at the Farmington Diner. A few meals are also being served.

The fate of the diner came in to question last spring when Rite-Aid announced their intention to buy the Farmington landmark, along with two other Intervale properties, so that they could build a new 14,673-square-foot building. After receiving approval from the town planning board, other permits were needed for construction to begin this fall but, so far, nothing has been changed on the Intervale.

So it has been business as usual for the diner with no apparent date for the closing of the eatery.

“Business will continue until we hear differently,” said Brian Wood on Thursday, who runs the diner, which his brother Russell owns.

“We haven’t heard a thing,” he said.

A project like this can be a long, drawn-out thing, said Russell Wood, who is in Florida, “so we’ll keep cranking and not do anything until we have a closing date.”

The real estate developer, Bruce Carrier from Winslow, said he expects that date will be in early November. Construction is expected to start soon after.

“It’s taking more time to finish the specs and to have all the needed permits in hand,” said Bret Poi, Project Manager from BL Companies in Connecticut.

An access agreement with the Maine Department of Transportation needs to be finalized for the entrance to the proposed store to come through the Park and Ride, he said. They are also trying to meet the requirements for flood proofing the building. The developer hasn’t closed on the properties yet, but once the technical details are worked out, he expects the developer will exercise his options on the property.

The project is still on track for ground work to start late fall, he said.

In the meantime, Russell Wood is still trying to find a home for the diner. He wants one that’s local, he said. Someone who owns land here has recently expressed interest in buying the diner and moving it to a site where it would continue in business, but he’s checking on moving costs and hasn’t made a decision, Wood said.

Wood’s other option is to donate the diner to the American Diner Museum, based out of Rhode Island, if they can take it in soon. It would have to be a here it is, where it is, type of thing, he said. Perhaps the developer could work on the other end of the property first to give a little extra time.

“I would like to save the diner and not give up too soon, but it will take a certain amount of time to get it out of there,” he said. “I’m hoping somebody will take it and find a spot for it even in a town near there rather than being moved out of state. I can’t see why we can’t have progress and still have the new and the old.”

Wood doesn’t want to close the diner too soon, but it’s just hard to balance everything, he said. The developer had indicated he would like to take possession as soon as the sale is closed, he said, so once that date is settled signs will go up around the diner or “we’ll just keep on doing business.”

“I expected we’d be there 10 to 15 years, then Rite-Aid came along,” he said.

Now Russell Wood said, he’s feeling frustrated with the lack of time to save the diner. But, he added, he feels the diner could be saved if he could coordinate with a mover.

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