The building that has been home to There and Back Again and, formerly, the Arena Grill, will be demolished after being bought by ORDA. Plans for a green space with sculptures or other tributes to the 1980 Winter Olympic Games are in the works. (Provided photo — Margie Philo)

LAKE PLACID — Main Street will be saying farewell to the building situated in front of the Olympic Center — known now as There and Back Again and formerly home to the Arena Grill — as the Olympic Regional Development Authority prepares to acquire the property.

In a meeting on Friday, the ORDA board approved the plan. Margie Philo, broker and owner at Berkshire Hathaway, has been managing the sale and confirmed Friday that it is pending and will go through.

Philo spoke on behalf of the owner of There and Back Again, who also owns Life Is Good, the Lucky Duck and Imagination Station. She said There and Back Again will be absorbed into one of the other stores and the products will still be available.

While exact plans are still in progress, ORDA spokesperson Darcy Norfolk said the plan is to demolish the building and create a green space to welcome visitors to the Olympic Center with better presentation and access. ORDA is also in desperate need for more ADA-accessible parking, so the backside of the new property will help provide some of that.

“We’re always blocking spots on Main Street and trying to build in some sort of accessible parking,” Norfolk said. “So it’ll be good to have that permanently as an option in that area.”

ORDA CEO Ashley Walden said they hope to have the building demolished, the area cleaned up and more parking spaces created by winter. Beyond that, there are a few options for what they might do with the space, but the overall goal is to pay tribute to the Olympic Center and the history that has been made there.

For instance, many Olympic cities have a large set of rings given by the International Olympic Committee. Or, Walden said ORDA has been in conversation with a separate nonprofit for years about making a bronze statue of the 1980 U.S. hockey team, adding that this would be an ideal home for that monument.

Bill Beaney, one of the North Elba town representatives on the ORDA board, asked in a lighthearted manner for a photo of the old Arena Grill to be displayed in the museum during the discussion about the acquisition at Friday’s meeting.

“I’m speaking for many, many people,” he said, laughing.

“There certainly is sentimental value to the property and we’ll have to find a way to honor that,” Walden responded.