A 60-year-old landmark for the east side is about to make way for Toledo, Ohio’s future marina district. What has stood as a landmark at the foot of the Martin Luther King Junior Bridge will slowly come to the ground over the next few weeks. Workers from B and B Wrecking & Excavating out of Cleveland are scheduled to begin removing asbestos and other toxic materials from inside the Toledo Sports Arena today. After all of the hazardous materials is cleared from the building crews can then precede with demolishing the actual building all at once.

Over the decades, the arena has been the cornerstone of minor league hockey, concerts, graduations and numerous other events. The king himself Elvis Presley even took the stage here decades ago. But over the next few weeks, as the arena diminishes to a pile of rubble, all that will be left are the memories.

However, new dreams will be created as the new urban trifecta is created with a sports arena, a baseball stadium and a convention center all within a block of each other. Speaking of downtown, B and B will be removing materials from several buildings that currently occupy the site of the new downtown arena site. No word yet on an exact date of that process.