The county plans to demolish the Lex Villa Building on Tanner Street in Carrollton to make way for the new Carroll County justice center.

Demolition of the building, at 202 Tanner St., is scheduled for mid-February, according to Carroll County Public Works/Solid Waste Superintendent Charles Pope. Crews are in the process of clearing the building of glass and other salvageable materials that may serve a future use. An asbestos abatement was performed by Pyramid Remedial Systems Inc. of Alpharetta, completed on Jan. 12, and now the county is preparing to move forward with the demolition itself.

Pope said it is yet to be seen how much the demolition will cost, though because it will be done by county crews, the cost will be much reduced when compared to the price of hiring an outside company to perform the work.

“We’re going to go in there and tear it down,” Pope said. “By doing it ourselves it’s going to be pretty reasonable.”

According to Pope, work could begin as soon as next week, assuming the weather cooperates.

Carroll County Board of Commissioners Chairman Bill Chappell said that because the building rests on what will be the footprint of the justice center it must be torn down before the center itself can get off the ground. This marks the second demolition of a property to make way for the justice center project and the adjoining parking garage. Last year, the county hired North Grading and Clearing to tear down the Courtyard Square Building on Newnan Street to allow crews to begin work on the garage.

Now, with the parking deck almost complete, the county is moving forward with the hopes of an early spring ground breaking on the justice center, though demolition of Lex Villa will be required first.

The Carroll County Board of Commissioners initially voted to buy the building in December of 2008, and the sale was completed on Feb. 20 of last year at a cost to the county of $511,000 from the Tisinger family of Carrollton. The price paid by the county was $14,000 less than a previous appraisal on the space. Since the purchase, it has been used to house the county’s parole office.

Though the building abuts the South Carrollton Historic District, which is recognized by the National Register of Historic Places, it is not included in the district, said Carrollton Planning and Zoning Administrator Charles Griffin. The district begins at 206 Tanner St., he said, and continues in a rough parallelogram southeast of Adamson Square in downtown Carrollton.

Griffin said he did not believe the building was recognized as protected by any other organization, and the National Register’s Web site does not show the building as being federally protected.

“It’s not [protected] that I’m aware of,” Griffin said.

The demolition will take only several days, and it’s likely a portion of Tanner Street will be closed while crews take down the building.