Tribune Chronicle / R. Michael Semple The former Lakeview Elementary School In Bazetta is being demolished by Miller-Yount Paving of Bazetta. Excavator operator Jason Campana of Cortland, in excavator at left, separates metal from debris as excavator operator Mike Stefanick of Canfield, standing right, surveys the progress of the demolition Thursday afternoon. The $650,000 project is expected to take a month.

BAZETTA — The 90-plus-year-old Bazetta Elementary School that served the Lakeview Local School District soon will be no more as demolition began this week.

The two-story building, which served as a K-3 building, was closed at the end of the 2017-18 school year to make way for the opening of a new PK-8 complex located off Wakefield Drive where the former middle school building once stood.

School Superintendent Robert Wilson, who is overseeing the demolition, said the $650,000 project should be completed within a month, with work being done by Miller Yount Paving.

Crews already have torn down some of the walls of the building at the corner of Bazetta and Johnson Plank roads. The school was built in 1927 and was considered by school officials to be beyond its useful life.

Last fall, more than 1,300 items in the school were made available for public auction.

Wilson said plans are to leave the area as green space for baseball, soccer and softball because the Bazetta and Cortland areas do not have a lot of green space.

“Our district’s hope is to provide the green space for community use and enjoyment for many years to come,” he said.

The school was located next to a playground and playing fields.

“It is very sad to see the history of the building disappear but this is part of progress in moving to a new building. The school has many memories for many people,” said Larry Sherer, a Lakeview Board of Education member and former district teacher.

Sherer, who taught high school science, said parts of the school have been incorporated into the new school complex, such as the school nameplate and also bricks from the school are to be used for a walkway. Sherer said board meetings were held at the Bazetta building, as were many community school programs and events.

“What is important is we have been able to incorporate pieces and parts of the school into the new building,” he said.

The former middle school closed last May and was torn down in early summer for the construction of a $31 million, two-story, 130,000-square-foot traditional-style school.

The state contributed 30 percent of the project cost at $9.39 million, and a local 4.5-mill bond issue over 37 years is covering the remainder of the more than $21 million cost.

The new school was designed by GPD Group of Youngstown, and Hammond Construction did the construction.