NORWAY — Voters will be asked Thursday to approve a $400,000 state grant to renovate the Norway Opera House storefronts.

The Oct. 20 town meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the Norway municipal building with a public hearing to explain and discuss the project funded by a Communities for Maine’s Future grant.

The hearing will be followed by a special town meeting asking voters to accept and appropriate the funds, Town Manager David Holt said. The hearing and meeting is being held in conjunction with the regular selectmen’s meeting.

The town was selected to receive the money through the Communities for Maine’s Future Bond Program to help save the Main Street landmark. The grant will pay for refurbishing the six storefronts on the first floor and the basement area.

Last year, the town took ownership of the three-story brick building, the centerpiece of the downtown historic district. It was deemed a public hazard because part of the roof collapsed in 2007, leaving the structure in unstable condition. Last fall the town paid to have the 100- by 60-foot back wall shored up.

The plan is to work with the Norway Opera House Corp. to use historic tax credits in partnership with Norway Savings Bank to further stretch the money. The corporation will also be asked to take over ownership of the building, Holt said.

The Opera House, with its imposing clock tower, is on the list of Maine’s Most Endangered Historic Properties. It was built in 1894 by the Norway Building Association and bought by the town in 1920. Concerts, minstrel shows, ballroom dances, plays, movies, high school graduations and town meetings were held on the upper floors, and small businesses operated on the first.

It had a succession of private owners after the town sold it in the mid-1970s. The upper floors have been unused for about 30 years; the storefronts periodically leading up to 2007.

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