But after several years of using the old yellow barn for not much more than storage, the Brozdas listed it for sale March 24.

The rustic, three-story building, tucked away behind Harmonie Day Spa and Bella Saratoga restaurant on Big Basin Way, used to be Sam Cloud's barn and has been a constant, if quiet, part of Saratoga's history since it was built.

According to the Brozdas' son Mike, the barn went up in the 1880s. Cloud used the barn as a stable, feed-storage site and workshop. Since that time, it has served as a television-repair shop, a printing shop (the Saratoga News was once printed there) and a storage unit for other businesses.

When a city-ordered inspection reported in September 2003 that the building was structurally sound but at risk of deteriorating, Saratoga building official Brad Lind restricted entry and designated the property as "off-limits to unauthorized personnel." Lind also requested a more detailed structural analysis report from the owners to determine what, if anything, could be done to make the building inhabitable again.

"The city has been encouraging the Brozdas to determine how to make that building safe for future occupants," Lind said. "I'm concerned about fire/life safety."

In fact, the city gave them a 90-day deadline for a complete engineering study and granted a 60-day extension at the family's request. When that deadline passed, Lind told the family's members that if they have not done the study by May, the city would have the study done and pass the bill along to them.

The Brozdas' real estate broker, Stuart Campbell, said the high cost of such a study—they have received estimates as low as $7,000 and as high as $25,000—has kept them from completing one. He said their hope is that the study can be completed while the property is in escrow.

Mike Brozda says his family cannot afford the study, especially when they are not planning to invest in renovating the barn.

"It's not feasible for us to undertake," he said. "We don't see any value in spending thousands of dollars when my family has no intention of hanging onto the building and retrofitting it."

Brozda said his parents are both approaching 80 years of age and no longer have the finances and energy it would take to renovate the barn and make it attractive to tenants, especially after paying nearly $750,000 into the Village parking district over the course of the last nine years.

Though they have looked into various uses for the building, and even hired local architect Warren Heid to draw up plans for a proposed mixed commercial and residential use of the building in 1992, Brozda said his family never had the money to put into redeveloping the property. He said the building has the potential to be "the talk of the town," but needs the right owner.

"It's going to take a lot of vision," Brozda said. "And it's going to take some deep pockets. But it's a unique, one-of-a-kind structure that would take 120 years to duplicate."

Others, too, have recognized the potential of the building. Councilman Norman Kline said that if the building could be properly renovated, it would be an opportune business site.

"It's in a great location," he said. "I can see it being made into something unique for the Village."

Campbell said he has received about a dozen inquiries from serious potential buyers. He said that, even before the 5,000-square-foot building was listed, he and Brozda heard a number of interesting ideas for the site, including a winery, artist live/work lofts, a brewery and offices. Several years ago, a theater company proposed turning the building into a playhouse, an idea Kline and others have said they like.

But exactly what happens to the barn will depend on the engineering study that will eventually take place. There is a chance nobody will want to spend the money to retrofit it, bringing up the question of demolition. Because of the barn's historical significance, though, Lind said an environmental impact report would have to be done before that could happen. Neither the Brozdas nor Lind want to see the building torn down, they said.

"The city is doing everything we can to save the building," Lind said. "Demolition is the furthest thing from what the city wants."