Wheeling Kmart comes tumbling down

Demolition work on Wheeling's former Kmart has started, and will continue through most of next week, according to village officials.

The store has been vacant at the northeast corner of Dundee and Elmhurst roads since 2002, when Kmart closed stores after filing for bankruptcy.

After the building is down, the land will wait for a developer. No one has expressed an interest on the site so far, said Mark Janeck, Wheeling's director of community development.

Only the 90,000-square-foot former Kmart building will be demolished, not the entire strip mall.

During the past few months, vandals have ravaged the building's interior looking for copper and other scrap metal.