LORAIN — City officials are setting their sights on dilapidated structures and have already scheduled the first of more than 30 that could be torn down.

A roofless and vacant building sitting across from Gyro’s and More on Broadway is the first building in the crosshairs of the demolition project, which returns to the city after a six-year hiatus.

“Sometimes to paint a new picture you have to start with a new palette,” Lorain Mayor Tony Krasienko said. “We’re going after the worst of the worst.”

Krasienko said razing the structure and other commercial and residential ones like it will help give the aging city a fresh look, while opening the city up for future development.

In the late 1990s, it was common for the city to tear down more than 30 structures every year, he said, but the program slowed down abruptly in 2002 — with an average of five structures being torn down annually.

Former Mayor Craig Foltin, a Republican, took office in 2000, but Krasienko stopped short of blaming that administration for slowing the demolitions.

“We’re coming up with a comprehensive plan, but we’ll cooperatively work with the owners,” he said. “Right now, we’re pushing the ones that have some means and are headed toward demolition.”

Service Director Robert Gilchrist said the city worked with the Broadway building’s current owner to expedite the demolition process and helped clear the way for the building to be razed Friday. A day-care center will likely be built in the building’s place, Gilchrist said.

“The building sat empty for years,” he said. “The beauty of this is what other people may have determined to have taken months, we’ve gotten done in a couple days.”

Contact Stephen Szucs at 329-7129 or sszucs@chroniclet.com.

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