PARKLAND, WA — Monday morning the trackhoe pulled in early, ready to start the demolition of the buildings on Garfield Street from “C” Street almost to the Western Auto. This is part of the project to build the new Garfield Station, a four-story apartment building with shops and dining on the first floor. A bit of urban living in the heart of downtown Parkland.

Several locals were standing on the sidewalk on the south side of the street taking photos as the demolition was proceeding. Among them, the father of the man running the trackhoe, Todd Goodner. Goodner would occasionally turn toward all the cameras and smile. The company doing the demolition work is local, The Rhine Company. The demolition began slightly later than planned as a there was no water yet on site. As the building are taken down, water is sprayed to keep the dust down.

Dan Wombacher, the project Supervisor for Korsmo, introduced himself. Korsmo will be in charge of construction at the site. He said it would be Wednesday when the one story wing of the old Parkland Elementary is demolished. They will finish cleaning up the north side of Garfield Street first.

As the trackhoe was pulling and chomping the buildings apart, it was obvious that Goodner was taking section so the observers could see building additions pulled away and the older roofs and siding revealed in the process. This was particularly noticeable on the corner building at C Street. Several remodeling jobs had obviously been done on the original building. Bathtubs were scrunched, refrigerators and hot water heaters were smashed. By 11a.m. there was only a pile of rubble.

Just as amazing as how quickly the buildings came down, was the number of cars that drove right past it all as the work was proceeding so close to them. This is visible in some of the photos. The street was not closed as this took place.

The Post will try to be on site as the Parkland School wing is removed in a couple days.