NORWAY – Although the historic Opera House is up for sale or lease, no one will be allowed to occupy it until it’s determined to be structurally stable, Selectman Les Flanders said Thursday.

Barry Mazzaglia, owner and broker for the Londonderry, N.H.-based Century 21 HBS Realty, has placed realty signs in the first-floor storefronts of his vacant 1894 three-story brick edifice on Main Street.

He is advertising the property on his real estate Web site for the purchase price $600,000 or for lease at $1,000 to $1,200 per month for up to 2,000 square feet.

Mazzaglia has not returned phone calls or e-mails from the Sun Journal, but an unidentified woman who answered the phone at the Realtor’s office said the property is simply being leased and not sold.

“He will need an occupancy permit before he can move anybody in there,” Flanders advised, because an engineering plan presented last fall to stabilize the severely damaged downtown landmark has not been completed.

Engineer Alfred Hodson III of Resurgence Engineering and Preservation Inc. of Portland formulated the plan last October at the town’s request after Hodson said a partial collapse of the roof left the building “extremely unstable.”

On Sept. 21, about a half dozen already-rotted roof trusses along the south wall gave way under the weight of water that had pooled on the sagging roof, according to an initial engineer’s assessment. The roof water, and even more from a third-floor sprinkler pipe that snapped when the weakened roof trusses finally broke, rained down through the vacant top two floors and into the first, forcing two businesses to move out.

Mazzaglia, who had no insurance on the building, immediately began to shore it up and was told by the town to follow Hodson’s plan to stabilize it before winter snows.

“The plan hasn’t been completed,” Flanders said Thursday. “He had to meet a higher standard than he’s met to date. He hasn’t been in it this winter other than to shovel the roof off,” he said.

Town Manager David Holt said he has not been notified by Mazzaglia that the property is for sale or rent, but he has heard that a “curious” local resident called the owner’s real estate office and was told the asking price was $750,000.

Mazzaglia, a developer, bought it for $225,000 in 2003 after it was placed on the state’s Most Endangered Historic Properties list by Maine Preservation of Portland. The designation is to raise awareness and focus the need for an organized rescue of significant historic properties that are threatened by deterioration, disuse and even demolition. It can also pave the way to major state and federal restoration grant funding.

The Opera House is the anchor of Norway’s designated National Historic District. It was constructed by the Norway Building Association in 1894, then owned by the town from 1920 to the mid-1970s, and then by a succession of private owners for the past 30 years or so.

The ballroom and balcony on the upper floors played host to the community life of Norway, including concerts, balls, traveling minstrel shows, theater performances, National Guard musters, town meetings and high school graduation ceremonies. The top stories have been unused since a movie theater closed in the 1970s, and the five ground-floor storefronts have had occupants off and on over the years.

The Opera House’s imposing tower encases a historic E. Howard clock, which is being renovated by the town under an easement agreement.

Staff Editor Mary Delamater contributed to this report.