Demolition starts at Eastport school

MICHIGAN CITY Demolition of the former Eastport school building is well underway. The site of the building, located on Michigan Boulevard, will be the location of the future Michigan City Police Department.

Mayor Ron Meer estimates the school building will be completely demolished by the end of January or during the first week or two of February.

Funding for this $220,000 demolition project, performed and overseen by Actin/TRI and Amereco Engineering, was approved by the Michigan City Common Council in November. At the mayors request, the agenda item was pushed ahead in the council due to break-ins and crime at the abandoned school.

Construction of the new police department has not yet been scheduled as the city is still looking into various funding options.

He added the city has been methodically moving through the process, which has been in the works for some time.

The first step the city accomplished was acquiring the school building from the MCAS district.

By state law, school districts have to keep abandoned buildings available for charter schools for four years, Meer said.

He credited local legislators Karen Tallian, Jim Arnold, Tom Dermody and Scott Pelath with getting involved to help get special legislation pushed through to transfer the school property to the city.

The project is now in phase two building demolition. The next step is to obtain funding for the new police facility, which will start with an architectural and design process.

However, the funding process will likely move slowly, according to the mayor, due to financial set-backs in the city stemming from county tax issues.

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Demolition starts at Eastport school