Lansford residents have heard for a while that the former Palace Theatre is set for demolition.

This time though, it appears the project is actually going forward.The dilapidated building that has been the subject of a lot of questions over the past year will be demolished, possibly by the end of the year, according to its owner.Developer Joseph Bennett appeared before Lansford Borough Council this week. He was joined by the contractor hired to demolish the property, Frank Martin.Bennett said that he is going ahead with the project to build a medical facility on the site. He plans to demolish the Palace as soon as possible.He said that he should be picking up the pace of the project after recently completing another health care center in West Penn Township."I'm sure that all of us are going to work this out nicely so that we can bring a very fine facility to the community which will help everyone," Bennett said.Bennett said that the medical facility should be similar to the St. Luke's facility he just completed in West Penn, and should provide a healthy tax boost to the borough.Mayor James Romankow thanked Bennett for doing business in the borough."I'm excited that we're finally at this point of the project. I can't wait for you to start. I'm grateful you're looking to improve this town," Romankow said.Plans to demolish the Palace in the spring fell through after Bennett couldn't find a place to dump the thousands of bricks from the old, three-story theater.But he told council Wednesday night that he found a site to dump the brick, on land owned by BET Investments. BET owns the coal lands that were previously part of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company.Bennett said he has a contract with Martin's company to demolish the property.Councilman John Turcmanovich expressed particular concern about the walls on the west side of the property are taken down in a way that won't affect the houses next door.Councilman Joseph Butrie said he wants to make sure that the demolition will be completed once it starts, because work on St. Ann's has stalled."That's an eyesore right now for these taxpayers," Butrie said.Bennett told council he also plans to acquire and demolish another property located across Coal Street, which will become a parking area for the new facility.He said he hopes to be underway in 90 days.He also asked council to let him fence off some streets surrounding the property during the demolition for safety reasons. He said that the demolition will require closing the block of Coal Street that sits immediately east of the property, as well as the parking areas around the building on Patterson Street (Route 209) and Bertsch Street.