LAWRENCE — The owners of Lawton's Famous Frankfurters stand are vowing to move their business — possibly to Methuen — if work isn't done soon to keep the restaurant from sliding into the canal.

"We could take the Lawton's signs down, or paint over them, walk away, and open a Lawton's down the street," said owner Scott Curley. "I own the name, the trademark, and the secret cooking recipe."

He added, "We have so many places people are offering ... if I moved the place somewhere locally, I'd still have all the customers."

Scott and Jo-Anne Curley, owners of the 80-year-old landmark on Canal Street, shut down June 10, when it was noticed the building was settling. A slumping canal wall and erosion continue to threaten the building and nearby sidewalk. AT&T claims the undermined sidewalk at the site also is creating an imminent threat to its utility lines and needs to be fixed soon.

Methuen Mayor William Manzi confirmed the Curleys have spoken to officials in his city about possible locations.

"We would welcome the famous Lawton's brand with open arms," the mayor said.

Mike Graffeo owns the land where Lawton's is located. He hopes to have a solution in place within 30 days. He said AT&T has hired his engineering company — Kaminski Associates of North Andover — to send people to the site Monday, where they will take elevations and come up with a plan to keep Lawton's from sliding into the canal.

"Our underground cables are at risk and our engineers are actively working with both the city as well as the private engineer hired by the property owner on a comprehensive plan," said Kate MacKinnon, a spokeswoman for AT&T. "We would like to begin repairs immediately."

A number of theories have been floated as to why the property is slumping, but one which seems to be gaining traction is that when the new telephone pole was installed in the sidewalk next to Lawton's, contractors doing the work removed a small drainage grate that funneled rainwater from the sidewalk into the canal.

With the removal of that drainage grate, said Assistant City Engineer Andy Wall, water began flowing from the sidewalk onto the property, undermining the deck and the restaurant's septic tank, eroding the soil, and causing the structures to move. That also may be contributing to the problem with the telephone pole itself, he said.

Verizon spokesman Stan Usovicz said the pole was installed by the telephone company and that engineers for Verizon are looking at the problem.

National Grid spokesman David Graves, however, said the pole is actually owned by the power company and was installed in January or February 2008. He said it was placed into a hole about 6 feet deep and 2 feet wide, and that it is "unlikely the hole would cause the kind of damage being caused up there."

He said "other utilities" that put their wires on the pole and then buried them underground are more likely at fault.

Wall said that in 2007, contractors working for AT&T excavated the sidewalk and dug a trench to install PVC pipe that carries cables that are part of the company's information network. Something recently has caused the material surrounding the PVC pipe under the sidewalk to collapse and erode. That material is now spilling across the embankment and toward the canal.

At some points, the sidewalk appears to be suspended in midair, with the exposed PVC pipe poking through the sandy soil that others at the site have said was "slurry," or a form of cement, that is often used to solidify the earth in ditches.

Tom Schiavone, economic development director for Lawrence, said he hopes AT&T will redo the work that was done in 2007 and that Lawton's is back in business soon.

"We are ready to issue permits as needed," he said. "We will not stand in the way of getting this problem resolved."

Wall said either AT&T or National Grid needs to step up to the plate.

"Who's going to be a big boy here and not sue somebody else?" he asked. "Just do the work and solve the problem."

Wall estimated that if all parties could agree on a course of action, it would take just a week to get the work done. If this drags on due to court action or some other impasse, he wouldn't even take a guess at how long it would take before Lawton's Famous Frankfurters is open again.

Whoever ends up doing the work also will need approval from Enel Corp., which owns the canal and canal walls.

Enel spokesman Hank Sennott said the company is "willing to work with the appropriate folks to have the issue resolved."

But he also said that Enel is in the same position as Lawton's, and that damage has been done to the canal wall that "isn't of our doing."