The Star City Cinema building could, if South Fayette were to buy it, be transformed into a spacious civic center with an airy entrance, one and a half gymnasiums, a two-floor library, a softball field, tennis and basketball courts and out parcels that could be sold.

However, the township has not had a chance to go through its planning process, or even to complete an assessment of what it wants in a civic center.

"We're at a decision point maybe a little earlier than we wanted to be," Commissioner Sue Caffrey said at a special meeting Tuesday.

The decision point is real, however: The property owner has set a deadline of Tuesday for the township to sign a purchase agreement.

After a 45-minute private discussion, they decided to wait until their meeting Monday before acting. They directed Manager Mike Hoy and solicitor Jon Kamin to gather information before then, though they did not say what that information is.

"If you see it on the agenda for Monday's meeting, you'll know we got the information we need," Commissioner Greg Curl said.

The township has been negotiating with Steve Thomas, president of Chapman Properties of Leetsdale. South Fayette Mr. Hoy did not know whether Chapman owns the property or is representing the owner. The reason for the deadline also has not been made public.

Mr. Thomas could not be reached for comment yesterday.

The vacant building will address a concern that has been growing for several years. South Fayette is out of room in its Millers Run Road facility, and the library in particular is crying for more space. The township needs to buy or build something, somewhere, and has established several committees to figure out what and where.

One of those committees -- the one charged with looking at possible sites -- spurred the potential deal for Star City.

"We put together a list of our top possibilities, and decided to contact the property owners to see what they were thinking," said Lee Wetzel, a member of both the facilities committee and the library board.

The response from Chapman was essentially "if you want to buy it now, we'll sell it now." The asking price has not been made public.

There are definitely points in favor of the Star City building.

It is on Route 50 in the heart of the township, and lies directly across from the eventual entrance to the massive mixed-use Newbury Market development.

It is on 13 acres of land, much of it now parking lot. But architect Kerry Solomon, who designed the building for Star City a decade ago, noted that the township will not need all the parking, and can convert some into parcels for sale and other space into recreational uses. There is also room for a softball field up against the bank for Hickory Grade Road, he said.

Inside, Mr. Solomon said, the building can be easily converted. Other than the central spine, there are no load-bearing walls, and the stadium seating in the theaters was built using foam blocks, which can be removed easily to leave a flat concrete floor.

The hardest and most expensive part would be inserting a second floor; since the building sits atop a former pond, the soil underneath is unstable, and concrete caissons would need to be built to support the floor.

Overall, Mr. Solomon offered a detailed preliminary conversion plan with a price tag of $7.5 million. He and builder Ken Schultz, of Shannon Construction, who previously worked on a plan to convert the building into office space, said the price of new construction would be substantially more.

Mr. Solomon's plan totaled 107,000 square feet, and included everything listed on a wish list the township had created for planning purposes.

That includes a senior center, ample space for the library, police department and administrative offices, a fitness center in the windowed area above the theater's entrance and a recreation center with a large gym, a small gym, a space for ping-pong and other game tables, and locker rooms.

Mr. Solomon even suggested touches like leaving the concession stand in place as a food court and leaving a 200-seat theater in place to serve as a meeting room.

The commissioners, however, were concerned about rushing through the process with little time to digest the possibilities.

"We established a process for making this decision, and ideally that process should have a chance to run its course," Ms. Caffrey said.

"Is the [deadline on the] 13th long enough for us to decide what we want to do? I don't think so," Mr. Curl said.

Commissioner Cindy Cox disagreed, however. "We did a lot of work on this already, talked to a lot of people, and this facility was identified as one of the places -- really THE place -- for it," she said.

Ms. Cox also noted that the library is desperately crowded, and wants to apply for grant money this year.

The other wild card in the process is Newbury itself, which has throughout its planning, expressed an interest in including a civic center.

Brett Malky, president of Newbury developer EQA Landmark Properties and a South Fayette resident, asked if he could have a couple of weeks to put together an equally detailed counter-proposal.

Part of the original vision for the development, he said, "was that Newbury would be a 'Main Street' for the community, and [a civic center on-site] was integral to that vision."

Newbury has had general discussions with the facilities committee, apparently offering to lease the township about 80,000 square feet of space. But Mr. Malky said the discussions has never been that detailed.

"As a resident, I want to see the township do what's best for the township, but we haven't yet done for you what we would like to do for you," he said.

Mr. Wetzel, however, said that senior citizens had expressed concerns about having the senior center in Newbury, afraid that traffic could make access more difficult. And Mr. Malky granted that there are also concerns about having the police station there.

"We mutually agreed that the sight of someone being dragged in handcuffs into the police station would not be the most conducive thing to a shopping atmosphere," he said.

But Mr. Malky said those concerns can be addressed.

"I would hate to see us not give Newbury its full consideration and due," he said.