NORWAY — Contractors who are interested in bidding on the structural stabilization of the Opera House met with the town’s project engineer recently to tour the building as town officials prepare to award the bid on Oct. 28.
“Twelve contractors went there to look at the Opera House,” reported Selectmen Chairman Irene Millett of the meeting with Al Hodson of Resurgence Engineering and Preservation Inc. of Portland and interested contractors on Oct. 7.
Construction to stabilize the back wall of the Opera House in downtown Norway is expected to begin Nov. 4 and be finished by the end of December, according to bid specifications. Bids will be opened on Oct. 28.
Funding for the project has come primarily from Bea and Bill Damon’s donation of $200,000, used to purchase the property by eminent domain, a $150,000 grant from a Maine Community Development Public Facilities grant and a $50,000 match from the Norway Opera House nonprofit corporation.
According to the bid specifications, the project will include demolishing exterior walkways and a two-story, 20-foot by 20-foot building on the back of the Opera House and stabilization of 17, 60-foot roof trusses.
A portion of the Opera House roof collapsed on Sept. 21, 2007, severing a sprinkler pipe, which flooded first-floor occupied spaces in the building and compromised the stability of the building.
Two engineering studies have deemed the structure to be “unsafe to the public and neighboring property” and officials are convinced the 17,618-square-foot building continues to deteriorate, causing not only an unsafe situation for downtown but an unfavorable economic one. Officials have said that it is unknown what direction the building would fall if it failed, but according to the town’s impact statement in the Community Economic Development application, a collapse could send thousands of bricks into the Pennesseewassee Stream, which flows directly behind the building, or fall into the path of an estimated 12,000 cars that pass it on Main Street every day.
Other buildings in the National Historic District could also be damaged by such an event.
The building includes a three-story brick building with a full basement and a four-story clock tower containing an historic clock and bell.
In addition to the work on the trusses and brick wall and addition, the upper 8 feet of the existing rear masonry wall, which is 100 feet long, is considered to be “extremely unstable” and will be removed once the trusses are stabilized, according to bid specifications.
Although the total rehabilitation of the Opera House is considered a multi-year, multi-million-dollar task, officials say after the stabilization project is completed, a new owner who has adequate resources to renovate the building will be found.
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