It appears the blue light special will soon have a date with the wrecking ball.

Prep work is being done at the first-ever Kmart building at 29600 Ford Road in Garden City to demolish the structure, which has remained vacant since closing in 2017.

Replacing the former department store on the western side of downtown Garden City will be an LA Fitness, which has acquired the property and plans to construct a gym on the site, Kim Dold, the city's Downtown Development Authority director, said. Demolition will include the entire property, including the building and the parking lot.

"They are starting work on it now," she said. "The whole building's coming down."

Dold said she was unsure of the timeline for the project, including when the actual demolition would take place. She said LA Fitness had informed the city it would take about eight months before the gym could open.

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Workers could be seen at the site Monday afternoon with several vehicles in the parking lot and workers coming in and out of the building. Posts for fencing to surround the property in preparation for demolition had also been erected.

Once constructed, it would join several other LA Fitness facilities in the area, including the two in Livonia, one in Plymouth Township and one in Allen Park. Dold said the gym would most likely look similar to the LA Fitness constructed on Seven Mile west of Middlebelt in Livonia, which opened on the site of a former Farmer Jack grocery store back in 2018.

A message seeking additional information regarding the project was sent to LA Fitness Monday afternoon.

'They've come to terms with it now'

The building opened as the first Kmart back in 1962. The company spent several decades growing, with thousands of stores located across the country, but has shrunk considerably in the past few years. Michigan currently has just one Kmart, located in Marshall, left operating.

The development at the site is just the latest former Kmart to see new life in western Wayne County. The former store at Wayne and Cherry Hill in Westland contains a UHaul facility, and the former store on Ann Arbor Road in Plymouth Township has been flattened and will become a new Henry Ford medical center.

The former Kmart at Seven Mile and Farmington in Livonia, which closed nearly three years ago, remains empty.

Once built, it won't be the only gym to come to Garden City in recent memory: Planet Fitness opened in the former Kroger on Middlebelt north of Ford Road in 2018.

The removal of the first Kmart building has pulled on the heartstrings of Garden City residents who grew up with the brand, Dold said. But as everything happens in life, she said the city is ready for its next chapter.

"Just looking at Facebook posts more than anything else, the emotional attachment to it that a lot of people had, they've come to terms with it now," she said. "They want to see the city move forward."

Contact reporter David Veselenak at dveselenak@hometownlife.com or 734-678-6728. Follow him on Twitter @davidveselenak.