In April, the Historic Provo Preservation Foundation scrambled to come up with $1.25 million to save it. And although organization members said they raised the money, a computer glitch put the transaction one day past the April 19 deadline set by the Provo City Council.

The next day, the City Council removed the structure from its Landmarks Register and issued a demolition permit to the Salt Lake Catholic Diocese, which oversees the parish.

That gave Landmark Partners, a Utah County development firm, the inside track to tear down the historic building, buy the land from the diocese, and move forward with an unspecified development project.

But this week, the developers sent word to the preservation foundation that, after all, it might be willing to cut a deal on the St. Francis of Assisi building, said Douglas Bush, the foundation's president.

"I received a phone call and [Landmark Partners] said they were willing to entertain an offer from us," Bush said Friday.

A representative for the development firm, Lehi-based attorney Adam Ford, named a price, Bush said. However, the foundation president did not want to make the figure public.

"I asked him to put it in writing," Bush said. "Until there is something in writing, it's smoke in the air."

Ford, late Friday afternoon, said the developers have always been willing to work with the preservation foundation.

"We're reaching the endgame. This is the time for them to make an offer if they're going to make one," Ford said.

"We're not going to hunt them down and make them make an offer. It's their job to make an offer."

The deal didn't go through in April because the preservation foundation didn't come up with the money, Ford said.

"They claimed to have the money. But they didn't. We've never seen the money."

Demolition of the old church has been delayed because of issues related to asbestos removal, said church representative Tommy George.

He refused to comment further.

The Salt Lake diocese had planned to use the proceeds from the sale to put up a new church building in Orem.

Meanwhile, preservation board member Linda Walton said she was puzzled by public statements this week by Landmark Partners that removal of asbestos could be problematic.

"That isn't news. We've known about the asbestos all along," she said.

The preservation foundation hopes to restore the structure so that it can be used as an art and education center that would complement the new Provo Art Center to be built near by.

csmart@sltrib.com