Visitors driving on Third Street in South Ironton may notice a different skyline as the Honeywell company continues to demolish buildings on its Ironton property.

Honeywell International, headquartered in Morristown, N.J., contracted Cleveland Wrecking Co. to begin demolishing the old structures along the south side of its Third Street plant, formerly Allied Signal, said Jeff Zerkle, site leader.

Demolition began the first week of June. Eleven structures have been demolished so far, with about three to go, Zerkle said.

"The tar process plant went out of business in December of 2000," he said. "Honeywell has been working on the demolition of the facilities to remove them from business and clean up the property."

The tar distillation process building, which most people recognize as one of the the taller buildings, was brought crumbling down early Tuesday morning.

Traditional demolition techniques of controlled collapsing have been used, and no explosives will be needed during the project, Zerkle said.

So far, everything has gone smoothly, he said.

All above ground demolition and removal of the debris should be completed by September, Zerkle said.

At this point, it is too early to tell exactly how much the demolition will cost the Honeywell company or what the ultimate plans are for the property, Zerkle said.

"Honeywell has gone to great expense to take these buildings down and we are doing everything we can to do the right thing regarding the property," Zerkle said.

The office building on the south side of Third Street and the administration building on the north side, next to the South Ironton Industrial Park will remain standing, he said.

City officials have been marketing the administration building and may purchase the building from Honeywell before the company completely leaves the Ironton area later this year, said Economic Development Director Matt Ward.

"It would be great to have a 25,000 square foot spec building that can handle light industrial," he said. "It would go perfectly with our industrial park."

Ward has shown the building in the past and will show it to potential clients today, he said.