NORWAY — The Norway Maine Opera House Corp. has received three major competitive grants, bringing it closer to its goal of raising $200,000 to stabilize the downtown edifice.

The 1894 Opera House on Main Street was taken by the town last year because it was considered a public hazard due to its structural condition. A portion of the roof on the three-story brick building collapsed in 2007, leading to the takeover from Bitim Enterprises of Londonderry, N.H. A contractor was hired last fall to shore up the building.

The corporation has been raising money to save the Opera House, which had businesses on the ground floor until the roof collapse but has had no occupants on the upper floors for decades.

The latest grants to the corporation are $10,000 from the Davis Family Foundation of Falmouth; $12,500 from the Belvedere Historical Preservation Fund of the Maine Community Foundation; and $50,000 from the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation.

With that money, the corporation’s fundraising total stands at about $90,000, Dennis Gray, a member of the organization, said.

The funds will be used to meet the required match for the town of Norway’s $150,000 Community Development Block Grant to stabilize the Opera House.

“We need around $130,000″ for stabilizing the building, Gray said. The rest will be used for a study to re-look at the reuse of the building.”

Gray said the initial study that was conducted on the building many years ago looked at the building for reuse as a theater and conference space with an elevator in the lobby for accessibility to the upper floors.

“It obviously needs a fresh look,” he said.

Gray said fundraising letters are being sent to local individuals and organizations. People wishing to contribute to the effort can contact the Norway Maine Opera House Corp. at Post Office Box 271, Norway, ME 04268.

As fundraising efforts continue, town officials are awaiting a resolution to the eminent domain case in Oxford County Superior Court.

Last month, local officials learned that the hearing on how much the town must pay Barry Mazzaglia of Bitim Enterprises was delayed again until late spring or early summer.

Selectman Bill Damon and his wife, Beatrice, have donated $200,000 to the town for the settlement.

Mazzaglia, a developer, bought it for $225,000 in 2003.

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