PORT ANGELES — Demolition has begun on a landmark that has become an eyesore since it burned in July: the burned-out hulk of the New Peking Restaurant & Lounge.
The Olympic Region Clean Air Agency, or ORCAA, issued a demolition permit for the site Dec. 9.
The entire structure at 2416 E. U.S. Highway 101 at the east entrance to Port Angeles should be entirely demolished within “a few days,” ORCAA compliance supervisor Robert Moody said Thursday.
“It should come apart pretty quickly.”
The 7,800-square-foot building, valued at $265,770 and built in the 1940s as the Top Spot bar and dance hall, was destroyed by a spectacular blaze of electrical origin in the early morning hours of July 5, the Clallam County Sheriff’s Department said.
Since then, the county Department of Community Development has received about a dozen citizen complaints about the wreckage-strewn property, agency Director Sheila Roark Miller said in an earlier interview.
Property owner Kevin Fong did not return a call for comment Thursday on his plans for the 0.63-acre site.
The demolition permit was issued to Bishop Enterprises of Port Angeles, Moody said.
ORCAA required fire-retardant to be removed from the site before demolition could begin.
Less than 10 square feet of asbestos still needs to be removed, but it’s covered by another wall that must be torn down, so the demolition permit was issued, Moody said.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
