TINLEY PARK (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - A massive demolition project is underway at the site of the former Tinley Park Mental Health Center.
There are nearly fifty buildings on the site, some tens of thousands of square feet. Others are smaller cottages. They're all coming down.
Thursday, crews were using excavators with large claws to rip apart two buildings: a three story brick structure and a smaller cottage.
The site is 280 acres.
The state sold it to the park district for $1 and is paying for the demolition.
It operated as a mental health complex from the 1960s until 2012.
Since then, the buildings have been a draw for urban explorers.
“It’s hard to stop. They come through in the middle of the night. Security has called the local authorities. By the time they show up, everybody is gone,” project manager Michael Maloney told WBBM.
He said the air quality is being monitored daily.
Maloney said he could not give a timeframe for completion, but he thinks it looks a lot better now that brush and other overgrowth left to grow since 2012 has been removed.
“This is exciting to get progress to start with this demo of a large building,” said Maloney. “It was only last February when the park district officially obtained the property…after sitting vacant for over a decade.”
A park will be part of the redevelopment.Other uses are being discussed.
Maloney said a casino is not among them.
He also said an official with the Cook County Mosquito Abatement District told him that before standing water was removed, it was one of the most significant breeding grounds for mosquitoes in the south suburbs.
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