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The Arizona Opera could have a new home at a historic Downtown site if a group of local and state officials get their way.

But it's going to take a dip into taxpayers' pockets to make it happen, and no one is quite sure yet what the bill will be.

A diverse group of interests — including Gov. Janet Napolitano's Office, elected city officials and members of the Tucson-Pima Arts Council, along with the opera — are pushing to move the opera into the historic Scottish Rite Cathedral on South Scott Avenue between Ochoa and Corral streets.

The striking building — which looks dramatically different from almost any of its Downtown neighbors, with its ornate turn-of-the-century facade — would serve as the home for the Arizona Opera and a number of smaller arts concerns that are short of space and could use the facility.

The block-and-stone temple has four majestic columns soaring about two stories tall and a great deal of intricate stone design around the building's edges.

Built between 1915 and 1923, the cathedral is on the National Register of Historic Places, and is owned by the Masonic-Scottish Rite Cathedral Association, with which city and arts officials want to talk about buying it.

If the building is purchased, it would almost certainly be with Rio Nuevo redevelopment money because the cathedral lies within the Downtown district.

No one could give estimates about what purchasing the building and upgrading it to code would cost.

Jan Lesher, head of the governor's Southern Arizona office, said the governor is "a big fan of opera" and talked with opera officials about moving into Rio Nuevo.

"They would love to be in the old Masonic temple," Lesher said, referring to the opera.

"They looked at the facility and fell in love with it. It's such a special place and such a potential critical piece for Rio Nuevo."

Arizona Opera's general and artistic director, Joel Revzen, called the building "unique" and "fabulous" and said it would allow the opera to do a lot more outreach in Tucson.

It would also allow the opera to build permanent sets, could seat about 350 to 400 people and has two performance stages, Revzen said.

He said the opera doesn't want to own the building and doesn't want to be responsible for maintenance, although he said the opera is willing to contribute some for upkeep.

The opera would like to partner with smaller visual-arts organizations that need space and would like to use the building, Revzen said.

"We're just very excited about the potential of being in Rio Nuevo and part of a proper arts district," he added.

Councilwoman Nina Trasoff, head of the council's Rio Nuevo subcommittee, said she loved the concept and has met with the Governor's Office, the Tucson-Pima Arts Council and the opera about a possible move.

"The question is, can we pull it off, and should the city be a part of it," Trasoff said. "The issue always draws down to money."

Although the concept is wonderful, Trasoff said, "you have to get beyond that and get down to the nitty-gritty."

City Manager Mike Hein said he has heard discussion of the plan, adding, "The governor is an opera fan as I understand it."

Councilman Steve Leal said he is a big proponent of the city's buying the cathedral and has met with officials from the Governor's Office and the opera to discuss the opera's moving into the cathedral.

"Let's see if we can work out an agreement that works for everybody," he said. "It's a great building and it's set up for performance and staging."

Several meetings about the cathedral will happen in the next week, as Trasoff said she is meeting next week with members of the local arts community, and Leal said he is trying to sit down with the Masons.

While wanting the city to purchase the building, Leal said he is evaluating whether it makes sense to do it at the same time.

"I don't want to buy it if it doesn't make sense to buy it," Leal said. "I don't have enough data to know."