Why has the Hall family allowed two prime commercial properties it owns in Oak Bluffs and Edgartown to become public eyesores? Of the many mysteries of Martha’s Vineyard, this may be the most baffling.

The iconic Island Theatre on the corner of Circuit avenue in Oak Bluffs and the so-called Yellow House on the corner of Main and South Summer streets in Edgartown should be among the most attractive in-town real estate on the Island. Instead, both buildings have sat vacant for years, neglected and crumbling, quite possibly beyond repair.

The Halls are certainly smart enough to understand the business logic of spending a little to protect the value of an asset. They own enough other Island properties individually and in trusts that could conceivably be sold if they needed to raise money for maintenance and renovation. They have a wealth of contacts in the community who no doubt would be willing to help them with a plan to develop or lease the properties. And they are surely familiar with the ill will they have engendered by letting two historic buildings in heavily trafficked tourist destinations become so rundown.

Efforts to work with the Halls to repair the properties have been going on for years. That officials in both towns have been slow to take more serious action against the family is understandable. On one hand, the Halls are longtime Islanders, active in community life and quite personable in their daily interactions. They are always open to discussion, officials say, though the discussions often seem to end up back where they began.

They are also sometimes litigious, capable of tying up an opponent in long and costly legal battles. When the town of Edgartown in 2003 refused to let them remove a public shade tree on their Main street property, the ensuing court case went on for a decade before a judge finally dismissed it in 2013.

But as both the Island Theatre and the Yellow House descend into decrepitude, the blight on two picturesque village centers is getting impossible to ignore.

This week a special Board of Survey convened to assess the condition of the Island Theatre declared the building dangerous, putting increasing pressure on Oak Bluffs to take some kind of action. Under state law, the town building inspector could order the theatre demolished, with the costs of demolition assessed against the owners through a tax lien. But the selectmen want to weigh their options, including whether a special town meeting vote would be required to undertake the up-front cost of tearing it down. Perhaps they can also investigate how to landscape what remains before the tourists show up again next summer.

This may be the best next step. Though it is sad to say goodbye to a century-old structure that evokes so many fond memories, its eventual fate has been mostly sealed by the puzzling inaction of the Halls.

Can the Yellow House escape a similar fate?