The sidewalk on Second Street in front of Whitefish’s City Hall will be closed this week as crews begin to tear down the building.

Demolition of the City Hall is scheduled to take about a week to 10 days and will begin on Thursday. The sidewalk will be closed while demolition is in progress.

“We have to close the sidewalk while we’re tearing down the walls that are closest to it,” said Mike Cronquist, the city’s owners representative. “We want to keep the public out of harm’s way.”

A covered walkway will be installed along Second Street so the sidewalk can be re-opened to pedestrian traffic during the project.

Whitefish is constructing a $14.95 million City Hall building and downtown parking structure planned to have 212 parking spaces. The project is expected to take 18 months to two years to complete.

Demolition began with the Coldwell Banker building, and then is moving onto to the fire hall and the main City Hall building.

First Street from Baker Avenue to the alley between Baker and Central Avenue will be closed at least through demolition and concrete construction, which is set to begin in December. Temporary closures of the alley between First and Second streets may occur as utility and construction crews use the alley to gain access to the site.

The sidewalk on the east side of Baker will remain closed for the duration of the project.