NORWAY – The future of the Odd Fellows Hall is once again uncertain, after the Growth Council of Oxford Hills warned that the buyer might not make his closing deadline.

John Shattuck, the Growth Council’s new president, told town officials recently that Rick Lockwood of Gorham, who made a deal to buy the Main Street building from the Growth Council in November, has said he won’t be able to pull together the project’s financing by the end of the year. He has asked for more time.

But Shattuck was firm. He said Lockwood, who owns Dennwood Builders based in Gorham, promised in the purchase-and-sale agreement to pay the full $150,000 by Dec. 31. Although Lockwood has asked for an extension on the payment until mid-January, it is possible the Growth Council will drop him.

“We’re keeping our options open,” Shattuck said. Meanwhile, another prospective buyer has expressed interest in the project.

But Lockwood sounded surprised by this information when reached Friday. As far as he knew, he was still going to buy the building, just a little bit later than Dec. 31, he said. A few days earlier, he had spoken to the Sun Journal about his plans to bring life back to the building, like putting an upscale restaurant in the basement, a gift shop in the first two floors, and an art gallery in the third.

“It got pushed over to the the 14th or the 15th because our attorney couldn’t get it done in time,” Lockwood said, about the closing deadline. “We’ve got too many other closings, but we’re still buying it and everything.”

Local officials and neighboring businesses want to attract new tenants in there to help boost the liveliness of Norway’s commercial downtown.

But it’s been a tough job so far to do that. The Odd Fellows Hall has had a shaky last few months. After the Growth Council abandoned its project to rehabilitate the 112-year-old three-story brick building last summer, it scrambled to find a new buyer in time to save the public funding attached to the project, which had an expiration date.

Five people bid on the building, and a young couple were selected. But when the couple backed out late October, about $268,000 was lost of community development grant money. Roughly $95,000 was salvaged, however.

A few days later, Lockwood jumped in.

Part of the attraction of the building is the grant that comes with its purchase. Because the building was once owned by the Growth Council, a local economic development agency, the funding from the Municipal Investment Trust Fund was attached to the project. And part of that funding, the $95,000, has been passed onto the next private owner.