The Woda Group, an Ohio development firm, says it is no longer interested in buying properties, including the Penn Theater, on Main Street between North and New Castle streets. A company spokesman said the costs of the properties made Woda's plans unfeasible.

An Ohio development company that was interested in buying properties along Main Street, including the Penn Theater, has backed away from the plan.

The Woda Group was considering buying properties along the east side of Main Street between New Castle and North streets.

The company, which specializes in affordable living for seniors, pulled out of a potential deal for financial reasons.

The group wanted to build a 40- to 50-unit building.

“I spoke with everybody in that block and when we got the final numbers for which everybody was willing to sell, the total number was too high for the project to be economically feasible,” said Andy Cohen, senior vice president of the Woda Group.

The design of the proposed residential building, also faced obstacles. The alley behind St. Paul's Roman Catholic Church at 128 N. McKean St. is about 10 feet higher than the sidewalk in front of the site of the old Worsley's building.

“We could have overcome those issues, but it did increase the potential cost of development which goes into the whole economic feasibility analysis,” Cohen said.

That the Woda Group is no longer interested in buying the properties means the Penn Theater Performance Company is the sole organization interested in buying the Penn Theater from the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Butler.

“It's nice to know that we're not in a race against an out-of-town company that has a lot more money than us,” said Dane Winkler, founder of the Penn Theater Performance Company.

The redevelopment authority is $290,000 in debt to Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, which fronted the authority the money in 2009 to buy the theater. The authority wants to sell the theater to help absolve that debt.

Winkler said the performance company has raised $15,000 and expects to reach $21,000 once it sells all of its Penn Theater T-shirts. The performance company plans to speak with potential private donors in the next few months, though Winkler would not say who they were.

“The authority has been forthright with (the performance company) in saying they're willing to work with them, but they also have to work with any other potential buyers,” said Redevelopment Authority solicitor Tom Breth.

Cheri Readie, a member of the redevelopment authority, said the authority's primary goal is to sell the property. She also complimented the performance company.

“They're a very good, honest group of people, and I know that they will do a really great job at what they're doing,” she said.

She also called for monetary support for the performance company.

“It would be nice if people would actually financially contribute in order for them to see their vision come forward,” she said.

Butler Mayor Tom Donaldson expressed disappointment that the Woda Group's potential deal fell through.

“It's an opportunity that's lost and it had nothing to do with the people wanting to revitalize the Penn Theater,” he said. “It's solely about the cost of acquisition of the property. It's very unfortunate because this was a very good opportunity for the redevelopment authority to get nearly out of debt if not totally out of debt.”

Cohen said the Woda Group is considering four other sites in the Butler area to buy, but would not identify the properties.