LAKEMORE: The buildings on the former Edwin Shaw medical campus — everything from the cottages to the main hospital — are starting to come down.
Safeco Environmental Inc. is on the property tearing down the vacant structures and doing environmental work, including removing asbestos.
The company won an $850,000 contract last year from Summit County for the demolition project.
The demolition and removal of building materials is expected to continue until the end of the summer.
Five of the 13 original cottages already have been razed. The main hospital building isn’t expected to be hit by the wrecking ball until June.
The 100-acre, wooded property, is owned by the county, which has been trying to sell the land.
The hospital, originally known as the Springfield Lake Sanatorium, opened in 1915 and treated patients with tuberculosis.
Decades later, the facility was used for inpatient rehabilitation. But the service providers moved out in 2010.
The buildings have sat vacant and shuttered since, and they have become a target of thieves and vandals.
Once the buildings are torn down, local leaders believe it will be easier to sell the property.
“We’re going to have a clean slate to build on,” village Mayor Rick Justice said Tuesday. “We’re ready to get some people looking at it and get some productive use out of that land.”
In the meantime, the county is warning people to stay away during the demolition process.
“We have a standing order to arrest anybody up here,” county director of administrative services Craig Stanley said during a visit to the site.
The property is still home to a small cemetery and a three-hole golf course designed for those with disabilities.
The cemetery and the Challenge Golf Course are not being affected and will remain.
Rick Armon can be reached at 330-996-3569 or rarmon@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter at @armonrickABJ .