NORWAY — Work began this week to rehabilitate five storefronts in the Opera House on Main Street.

About 10 to 20 contractors were on site Wednesday to start restoring the commercial space to a usable condition by the beginning of the new year.

The 1894 brick building, once the center of community activities, has been vacant since a partial roof collapse in September 2007.

H. E. Callahan Construction of Auburn was awarded an $889,000 contract to refurbish the storefronts, according to Norway Opera House Corp. member Bruce Cook.

Dave Shelton, project supervisor with H.E. Callahan, has been spending the past few days in one of the storefronts reviewing the blueprints, marking work sites on the walls and waiting for the temporary lighting and power to be installed.

“The back wall has to be reframed,” he said, referring to at least one of the storefronts.

Although the entire back wall was stabilized last year when concern arose that it could fail, Shelton said the interior walls have to be torn down to the brick facade. That will require removal of the metal and plaster, reframing the wall, putting insulation in and the walls back up.

“We have to go right down to the brick,” Shelton said. The back exterior wall is covered with a fake brick.

Some 4,000 original bricks from the back wall were taken down and stored in one of the basements during the stabilization job.

Scott Berk of the Norway Opera House Corp. said volunteers must move those bricks to another basement to allow the contractor room to do the necessary work to reframe the wall. Volunteers and probably some type of dolly system will be used to move the bricks, he said.

Shelton said the work should be accomplished by Dec. 31.

Meanwhile, the Norway Opera House Corp. is continuing its fundraising to try to raise another $200,000 to help meet the initial $1.1 million renovation estimate.

Anyone who would like to make a tax-deductible donation to the project or would like more information may go to the corporation’s website at http://www.saveouroperahouse.org/or call Bruce Cook at 207-890-7920.

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