Demolition Expected to Begin Today at LTB's

Bulldozers are expected to roll in today to begin the demolition process at the fire-ravaged .

It's been three months since gutted the popular hangout and now, heavy machinery will be used to finish the job of tearing down the wreckage.

As days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months, city officials began to grow impatient that it was taking so long for any action to be taken on the property.

Assistant City Engineer Gregory Mayhew ruled it "unsafe, in imminent danger of collapse, and a public nuisance."

City Council members were to begin the process of tearing down the structure themselves, but said that won't be necessary as the property owners were finally able to get everything in check.

Mayor Joseph Peterson stressed that the delay in demolishing the building was not the fault of the owners.

"They were ready to go three weeks ago," Peterson said. "They were never the holdup."

Instead, the mayor said, it was MichCon that was slow to turn off the gas at the site.

"It got to the point where I had to tell them point blank, 'This building is dangerous and if anything goes wrong, it's going to be all on you,'" Peterson said.

He said the power was cut on Friday, LTB's owners acquired a demolition permit on Monday and that the work is set to start today. Wyandotte's Pro Excavation has been hired for the job.

Once the building is down, the owners have said they plan to rebuild and hope to have things completed in the spring of next year.

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