December 15, 2014 Updated Dec 15, 2014 at 11:10 PM EST

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (21Alive) Demolition begins on an old school building that will be converted into a park.

Around 11 a.m. Monday, a crane was brought in to demolish part of the old Franklin School building. Fort Wayne City officials say that site will be transformed into a park.

The Franklin Junior High building is predicted to be around 100-years old. It was most recently used as a training site for the Fort Wayne Police Academy, but residents say the buildings been sitting empty for the past couple years. Since then, there have been several proposals on what to do with it, like office space or housing, but Fort Wayne Parks Department Director, Al Moll, says the neighborhoods surrounding the school have been pushing for a park.

The Parks Department predicts the project will cost approximately $1 million. The City is investing $335,000, but the two-phase project is still $465,000 short on funding.

The Parks Dept. has already drawn-up some plans for the four acre space, which is unofficially called Franklin Park. It will include a splash pad, pathways, festival plaza, and the old firing range will be renovated into a pavilion. The three limestone arches that are part of the schools original architecture will be preserved and used as an entryway to the park.

On Monday night, a public input meeting was held to see if residents would like to add or remove anything from the proposed plans. Residents suggested things like benches, picnic tables, shaded areas, decorative lighting and sculpture art. However, what residents seemed to want the most is an office built into the pavilion for the neighborhood police liaison.

"Police presence in the neighborhood is very important. If they've got their cars parked there then it really helps us. I don't think we'll have many problems then, said Bud Mendenhall, President of the Bloomingdale Neighborhood Association.

"We got real used to when the Police Academy was here and the police presence is always a good thing to have, so we want to encourage that again. Police officers also get to know the neighbors then, said Kay Smith-Shoemaker, President of the North Highlands Neighborhood Association.

Phase I of the project will cost $600,000 and includes site development and the splash pad. Phase II entails renovating the pavilion, building the festival plaza, and landscape improvements at a cost of $150,000. Theres also a $100,000 contingency.

Read more:
Demolition On Franklin School Begins Making Room For New Park (VIDEO)

Crews began dismantling Monday one of the last few structures on this year's downtown Bettendorf demolition schedule to pave the way for a new Interstate 74 bridge and the realignment of State and Grant streets.

The red former machine shop building at 329 11th St. became the latest in the downtown area to be razed. The demolition is being done by Valley Construction.

Doug Rick, the I-74 project manager for the Iowa Department of Transportation, or DOT, said the Rock Island-based construction company also has received the bid to demolish the former Crescent Cleaners at 1303 Grant St. and the former Q-C Mart at 1402 State St.

Theyve already started on all three, he said, adding that the red concrete barn-like building is the 38th structure to be demolished on the Iowa side of the Mississippi River as part of the I-74 project.

Bill Hass, the president of Valley Construction, said crews have disconnected the utilities at all three buildings and should begin tearing down the former Crescent Cleaners by Thursday and the former Q-C Mart around Jan. 1.

Valley Construction will receive about $64,000 for the three demolition jobs, Rick said.

When their work is completed, 40 buildings will have been removed so work can begin on the realignment of the Grant and State one-way streets.

In total, the DOT has spent just more than $16 million in acquisition costs and relocation expenses for 44 properties and nearly $755,000 in demolition fees. Two of the acquired properties were vacant lots, and Ross' Restaurant and its former drive-through, which is a separate building, will be the last two to come down in downtown Bettendorf. (It came to light Monday that the owner of Ross' is exploring an option to stay downtown.)

Rick said the DOT plans to seek bids on the roadwork contract for realigning Grant and State streets by mid-January so construction can begin in the spring.

Hass said his company, which has demolished about 12 buildings in downtown Bettendorf, is interested in handling the $13 million realignment project that will carry over into the 2016 construction season.

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