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A key business in New Market that was a casualty of the recession may be closer to reopening, provided the bank can sell it.

Jim Plack, president of American Bank in Rockville, said there have been seven parties interested in buying the restaurant in the past month, several of whom are experienced restaurateurs.

Town leaders and business owners consider Mealey's an "anchor location" in New Market. Shop owners have noticed a decline in tourist traffic since former owner Chim Butt was forced to close in March, citing debt and declining business brought on by the recession.

American Bank bought the property in July for $1.2 million, clearing Butt's debt. However, the bank did not take possession of the property until last week, according to Plack.

He said the bank is hoping to sell to an experienced restaurateur because the building is intended to be used as a restaurant. "We do recognize that the town would be better off with a similarly situated enterprise in that location," he said.

But the sale of Mealey's isn't a certainty, even with interested parties frequently asking about it. "Like anything that's for sale, you don't know when it's going to sell," Plack said.

Town Councilman David Price, who also owns 12 West Main, an art gallery, said he was encouraged that restaurateurs were considering buying Mealey's.

Price said people never lost interest in Mealey's, but service had declined. "[Customers] were going, but they didn't want to go back," he said.

In the months since the restaurant has closed, Price has been working to find potential buyers, and has noticed that people still stop buy the doors of the restaurant to peek inside and see if it's open.

Price said there had been a report of burglary at the restaurant last week, which ended up being a false alarm. Price said screws from the door's handle had come loose because so many people had tried it to see if the restaurant was open. He said the police had investigated, and determined that there had been no burglary.

Detective Ben Whitehouse of the Frederick County Sheriff's Office confirmed this, saying wear and tear on the door handle had loosened some screws, and the door was ajar.

He said that nothing appeared to be out of place inside the restaurant, and the building seemed to have just been abandoned.

He agreed with Price that people had probably been checking to see if the restaurant was open, and over time this had loosened the screws. "I didn't even know it was closed," Whitehouse said.

Price said this was a sign that community interest in the restaurant was strong. He has said that he considers Mealey's essential to the town's economy, and without a well-known restaurant, visitors tend to leave town as their stomachs begin grumbling.

Mealey's has been a draw to the town for many years, and the building, 8 W. Main St., has served the town in many forms since it opened.

In 1793, the year the Town of New Market was founded, it opened as the Utz Hotel, but since then has served as a dry goods store, a telephone exchange, housing and even high school classroom space for residents of New Market, according to the restaurant's now defunct Web site.

In the early 20th century, the Mealey family took over the location and opened a restaurant.

E-mail Christian Brown at chbrown@gazette.net.