SOUTH TOLEDO, OH (WTOL) – Monday officially marked the beginning of the end for Libbey High School. Some neighbors looked on and took photos as the building started to come down.
The school board voted to close the school in May 2010 due to declining enrollment. Monday afternoon, demolition crews finally moved in.
Demolition will approximately cost a total of $1.5 million with the state of Ohio covering 77 percent of the cost. The process is expected to take three to four months to complete. Then the land will be converted to green space. The Toledo Public Schools are already having discussions about possible future community uses for the property.
After nobody wanted to buy the landmark building when TPS put it up for auction, the only option left was demolition.
"From a district perspective, it all came down to a financial issue in a sense. So really, from a financial issue, we don't need to worry about maintaining the building. For the community, it's a loss. Obviously Libbey has a long tradition here and we would have loved to have been able to have kept it, but we couldn't," explained Jim Gant, TPS chief business manager.
TPS officials said they will work to honor requests for bricks from the building. If you are interested, call TPS at 419-671-8200.
