Demolition began this week on a group of Grand Avenue area properties on the University of St. Thomas campus. The sites are likely to become student housing.

While school officials are working on a master plan — one of the goals is to have more student housing — they have decided to move forward with the demolition of four houses and a commercial building on campus. Left standing, the school likely would have been forced to spend on short-term renovations to the structures.

“We felt it was our only option to take down the houses and convert it to green space,” said Doug Hennes, vice president for university and government relations. The buildings are located on the north side of Grand Avenue between Cleveland and Cretin avenues.

The announcement was made last month after St. Thomas was granted a demolition permit. The decision frustrated Scott Banas, a representative of the Union Park District Council on the West Summit Neighborhood Advisory Committee. The committee was not able to discuss the plan before the decision was made, he said. The purpose of the committee is “to be consulted and have deliberation on university policies … that affects the neighborhood,” Banas said.

The fact that a two-story commercial building at 2117-2119 Grand, which has been around since the streetcar era, is being demolished without the input of the Macalester Groveland Community Council members on the West Summit Neighborhood Advisory Committee bothers one member.

“I happened to like that building a lot,” said Marc Manderscheid, a member of the Macalester Groveland council’s board.

Another representative on the same committee supported the school’s move.

Cathy Plessner, also a resident and student landlord in the neighborhood, said St. Thomas has the right to demolish the buildings and has benefited the community with its plans in the past.

“Those buildings do need to come down,” Plessner said. “People are sometimes never satisfied (but) not every neighbor is upset.”

The other sites to be torn down include 2093, 2077, 2103 and 2167 Grand.

While there hasn’t been any official plans yet for the sites, Hennes predicts it will more than likely be student housing as that’s been one of the goals for the north side of Grand Avenue since 2004.Official plans for the vacated space will be finalized by early 2017, Hennes said.