Mike Shirley, left and Thomas Fitzgerald watch as Scott Reynolds uses and excavator to rip down the walls of the former Aubuchon Hardware store which caught fire last year. Shirley and Fitzgerald, of Burke Excavation out of Massena, were waiting to set to work on cutting up the metal with torches. Shirley estimated the demolition will take around a month. They started the work on Monday. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

SARANAC LAKE — A demolition crew set to work tearing down the last portion of the Aubuchon Hardware plaza on Monday, which was destroyed in a fire more than a year ago.

The hardware store has plans to rebuild the plaza on Broadway this summer and has received all the variances and permit approvals it needs from the village, according to village Code Enforcement Officer Chris McClatchie.

Aubuchon owns the plaza, which included its store and a former connected building housing CED Electric, ADK Solar and MC Construction.

In January 2023, a fire broke out in a furnace at the electrical companies’ building.

The fire shot flames into the sky, and 13 fire departments from three counties fought it. The cause was deemed accidental.

The electrical companies’ side of the building was torn down last year. Though it was initially thought the Aubuchon Hardware portion of the building was structurally sound enough to remain, it had to be torn down, too.

Mike Shirley, of Burke Excavation out of Massena, estimated the demolition will take around a month. They started the work on Monday.

The proposed building will be slightly smaller than the previous one, with 14,450 square feet on the left end for Aubuchon and 10,640 square feet for another tenant on the right end.