But in this case, the township's Board of Supervisors has thrust itself into the fight, proposing a novel legal maneuver that would involve condemning the building as a means of preserving it.
On June 15, the board approved a resolution to take the property through eminent domain. A fair market value will be determined and paid to the current owner.
The plan, Board Chairman Curtis A. Mason Sr. said, is to convert the structure into township administrative offices.
The township also plans to realign a nearby intersection, which will require moving part of the building.
"We need a community focal point, and this fits the mold as far as we're concerned," Mason said, adding that "this place is right dead center of our township."
Though a municipality normally wouldn't be allowed to condemn a property to preserve it, taking it for a "public use" would make everything kosher, Township Solicitor R. Samuel McMichael said.
(Mason cautioned that the township might not use eminent domain if it works out a deal to buy the property and said he was not sure how much the project would cost. The property owner, Linda Mutascio, has not said what she would sell it for.)
Preservation activists are enthusiastic about this approach.
"It's fantastically proactive of a government," said Ben Leech, advocacy director for the Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia. "I applaud them for it."
He said he couldn't think of another local municipality that had used eminent domain as a preservation tool.
Neither could Dave Kimmerly, Preservation Pennsylvania's local field representative.
"This is kind of unusual . . . but I think it's a good idea," he said.
Not everyone is happy about this turn of events - least of all Mutascio, who ran a restaurant out of the building until it closed two years ago.
