NORWAY – Town Manager David Holt told selectmen Thursday night that he will have an informal meeting of the Historical Society and Matolcsy Arts Center, whose buildings are next to the Gingerbread House to see if there is any interest in acquiring it.

The dilapidated 1855 house, owned by C’s Inc., a holding company for the newspaper company Sun Media, has been offered to the town and the Historical Society with the provision that it be moved. A proposal from the town must be in place by Dec. 31 or the building will be demolished.

Norway Downtown President Andrea Burns said that her discussions with the building’s owners indicated they are in no rush to take the building down if the town can come up with a plan to take it over.

“The trouble is being able to afford to do it and run it after,” Holt said. If the building is moved it will lose the tax credit it can get by being in the National Historic District, Holt said.

The ornate two-story building with its four-story turret stands at the head of Main Street and has been vacant for years. It is within the town’s National Historic District and has been at the center of several forums the past few months to educating and promote discussion of historic buildings in Norway.

Although the house, also known as the Evans-Cummings House, has been cleaned out, cleared of asbestos and other hazards and secured, Holt and selectmen are concerned that the town simply couldn’t take over the building.

“It may be more than we’ll be successful in doing,” Holt said.

No date has been set for the meeting.