NORWAY – While selectmen decide what, if anything, to do with the damaged Norway Opera House, owner Barry Mazzaglia said Tuesday that the historic building is not for sale and construction crews will start working in it in a couple of weeks. He didn’t say why.

Mazzaglia said he didn’t believe the property was ever advertised for sale, despite the fact that it was posted last spring on the Century 21 HBS Realty Web site for $600,000 or for lease. The property appears to have been pulled from the Century 21 site. The real estate agency is in Londonderry, N.H.

“No, we’re not pushing to try to sell it,” Mazzaglia said.

Town Manager David Holt told selectmen last week that Mazzaglia has asked for low- or no-interest financing to help repair the building because he does not have money to finance renovations or further stabilize it.

Code Enforcement Officer Jeff VanDecker said Tuesday that Mazzaglia has not obtained any permits, which he would need from the Planning Board for any major renovations. The owner is free to repair it or tear it down without a permit.

The building has been vacant since last fall. On Sept. 21, 2007, about six already-rotted roof trusses along the south wall gave way under the weight of water pooled on the sagging roof, according to an engineering report by Alfred Hodson III of Resurgence Engineering and Preservation Inc. of Portland. The roof water and more from a third-floor sprinkler system pipe that burst when the trusses gave way rained down through the top two floors and into the first floor, forcing two businesses to move out.

Suits against Mazzaglia’s Bitim Enterprises have been filed in Oxford County Superior Court on behalf of Colonial Coffee Shoppe and Beyond Beauty, charging Bitim Enterprises with negligence, fraud, breach of contract and lessor liability. According to court documents, the businesses lost a combined $100,000 in inventory. The cases are scheduled for court Sept. 3, according to attorney Theodore Kurtz of Paris.

Last week, selectmen unanimously agreed to ask the town attorney what options they have for the circa 1894 building that sits in the heart of the downtown National Historic District and is used as Norway’s symbol on the town seal. Holt said Tuesday that there are several options the town may pursue – from doing nothing to renovating the building

“To get things moving the board has to decide,” Holt said.

A state preservationist has recommended that the town condemn the building in order for it to save it.

The town placed a lien on the building in October 2007 for nonpayment of $4,704 in fiscal 2007 taxes. The town will foreclose on the property in April if the fiscal 2007 taxes are not paid in full, Town Clerk and deputy Tax Collector Shirley Boyce said.

The town values the building at $209,400 and the land at $47,000.