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WILKES-BARRE &mdash; Demolition of the former Murray Complex began Friday, nearly a year after the Luzerne County Transportation announced it would be the site for the agency&rsquo;s new headquarters.
				Equipment and workers from Brdaric Excavating of Luzerne were starting with the smaller sections of the complex before proceeding to the main structure, said Lee Horton, interim executive director of the LCTA.
				Horton estimated the demolition would take a few weeks. He was uncertain when construction would begin, adding the project is still in the preliminary design stage.
				&ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be a long road. It&rsquo;s stretched out and there&rsquo;s a lot of moving parts,&rdquo; Horton said.
				The project, estimated to cost between $22 million and $27 million, will consolidate LCTA&rsquo;s fixed-route bus garage in Kingston and its shared-ride van facility in Forty Fort into a new operations center with a natural gas filling station.
				The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is providing most of the funding for the project. The Federal Transportation Administration provided a $190,000 grant and Wilkes-Barre contributed approximately $43,000 in matching funds to assist with the site acquisition.
				Wilkes-Barre City Council on April 16 approved an ordinance to vacate inactive sections of South Pennsylvania Avenue and East Ross Street that are located on the site and turn them over the property to the LCTA.
				LCTA secured the approximate 12-acre property in 2019 for $1.55 million in an eminent domain claim from its former owner, Siniawa 16 LP.
				The complex had been vacant for years and had a number of uses, ranging from Murray&rsquo;s Inn to the Hazard Wire Rope Company, which supplied wire rope to used to carry the electric current for public transit systems worldwide.

Murray Complex demolition underway in Wilkes-Barre