NORWAY — The owners of the Green Machine Bike Shop on Main Street say they hope to be in  the L.M. Longley & Son building by spring.

John and Angela Harvey, owners of the bike and ski shop at 329 Main St., are in the process of purchasing the former hardware store. Closing on the transaction is expected to happen this week, said Town Manager David Holt.

“We’re thrilled,” said Angela Harvey. “We love Main Street.”

Harvey said the opportunity to remain on Main Street came just at the right time as they were outgrowing their current space, which sells and repairs bikes and skies depending on the season. The new space will not only provide more room to expand the business but also to expand employees if the business continues to grow. Angela and John are the only employees currently.

“We’re very excited. It’s a lot of room for a growing business,” she said.

The 1867 Greek Revival style brick commercial building comes, with a long line of large outbuildings in the rear, is one of three downtown buildings owned by the Higgins-Crooker Trust. It is the last of the three to be sold.

Once the closing occurs, Holt said the amount of the purchase offer will be made public. The offer was one of two made to the trustees of the Higgins-Crooker Trust, the owner of the building.

Owner John Longley died  Jan. 23, less than a month after the landmark store that had been been in his family since 1902 closed for good. The family had previously attempted to market the site complete with its inventory at $225,000.

The Higgins-Crooker Trust was established in 1923 as a fund to benefit the “worthy, aged people of Norway, Maine if needy.” It consists of the L.M. Longley & Son building at 419 Main St.; the 100 Aker Wood Frame Shop building, 413 Main St.; the house at 20 Deering St. and about $20,000 in several bank certificate of deposits.

The trust has been losing money for years, Holt has said.

The historic James O. Crooker House on Deering Street was recently sold for $55,000 to former Norway Library Director Ann Seikman and Roger H. Crockett of Hebron. The Franklin County Probate Court has approved the sale of the 100 Aker Wood Frame Shop building to Steve Traficonte, who will continue to operate the frame and art supply business.

The assets, which are to be assigned as part of the dissolution process, will be given to the town in the form of a charity for the benefit of the “worthy, aged people of Norway, Maine, if needy,” according to the trust. Once the trust is dissolved, Holt and fellow Trustee Tom Denison will be relieved of their obligations to the trust.

In November, the Norway Board of Selectmen agreed to accept the assets from the Higgins-Crooker Trust Fund, as a condition to the dissolution of the decades-old trust fund in probate court.

Holt said despite some people’s hopes that the L.M. Longley & Son building would continue to house a hardware store, it was unlikely to happen, because the store would be competing against the big-box hardware stores and online shopping. The contents, that belong to the Longley family, have been removed.

Holt said he and Denison were pleased that the iconic building would be continued by a young, local couple who appeared to want to maintain the building and keep it in the commercial base for years to come.

Holt said that neither he nor Denison had asked to be trustees but took the job years ago when no one else would.

“We think we did the best we could,” Holt said of the sale of the three buildings.

He said he would like to help the couple and other Main Street building owners maintain their historic buildings in the Norway National Historic District by providing them with information regarding what is available through historic tax credits. He has suggested to selectmen that a workshop might be held for the owners of the 50 or so buildings in the district.

ldixon@sunmediagroup.net

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