Will a buyer for the Penn Theater be a wrench in the works, or an answer to prayer?

The Woda Group’s offer to buy the long-closed Penn Theater could be either, depending on how its offer is received by the community.

Woda, a multistate property developer and manager based in Ohio, wants to buy the Penn from the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Butler. City officials revealed last week they have been in discussions with Woda.

“Although these talks have been productive and the Redevelopment Authority is actively pursuing a sales agreement with the Woda Group, several issues still need to be resolved before any public action by the Redevelopment Authority,” read a statement issued by the authority at the end of its monthly meeting.

A local nonprofit, The Penn Theater Performance Company, is still hoping to lease and restore the Penn for use as a performing arts theater. The group has arranged exterior improvements allowing the facade and lights to go on at night. It has been working with plumbing and electrical contractors to address a number of the code issues in the building so that the city can give it an occupancy permit.

The Performance Company has submitted a draft of a lease to the authority and would like to make a presentation outlining how the community would benefit from having a performing arts theater on Main Street.

Meanwhile, Woda has shown more than passing interest in Butler. The company built and manages a 50-townhouse development off North Duffy Road in Butler Township. It previously sought to turn the vacant Pullman Standard building into apartments for seniors, but the $14 million plan fell through last year when Woda failed to get a competitive state housing grant.

Woda has experience and expertise in restoring and repurposing old buildings like the Pullman and Penn buildings. An Ohio newspaper reported in January about Woda’s plan to convert a vacant Columbus theater into senior apartments. The plan is to keep the exterior look of the theater and its lobby but to demolish most of the remainder of the structure.

There’s an almost instinctive impulse to resist Woda’s designs for the Penn property — it’s not exactly what others had envisioned for the 100 block of North Main Street.

It’s an impulse we should try to suppress, at least until we learn more from the Woda Group and from the Penn Performance Theater Company about their separate visions for the property.

Maybe the two visions are not so mutually exclusive. Maybe the groups can find some common ground.

From a practical standpoint, if a company with the Woda Group’s resources and expertise is willing to invest in our community — in effect, willing to become one of us, a neighbor and stakeholder in our community — then we and they should welcome a thorough discussion.