Hey Blondie, put your hard hat on! Interior demolition work started this week on the Clermont Hotel, the famously shady Ponce de Leon Avenue inn that sits atop the Clermont Lounge, officials told Curbed Atlanta. Exact plans are still largely a mystery, but this week's progress marks the first step in converting the 90-year-old eyesore into a four-star boutique hotel. Developer Ethan Orley has also now provided just the slightest hint of a timeline for the project. The leader of Clermont Hotel Partners LLC — a team of New York- and Nashville-based investors — said construction will begin in earnest sometime this fall.

Orley's team purchased the 88,000 square-foot Clermont Hotel, which was closed due to health violations and foreclosed upon in 2009, for $2.5 million in late 2012. That said, and as Creative Loafing has previously pointed out, anywhere from $10 to $30 million in improvements may be needed. The plans of Atlanta-based G+G Architects will include a rooftop bar and "a restaurant with a notable chef to attract a local crowd," the paper reported. A two-story parking deck will be added and a nearby house on Bonaventure Avenue will be converted into more rooms. The Clermont Lounge — the longtime basement home of Blondie and her beer-crushing bosom — is expected to remain untouched. Smartphone photos, as always, will prompt expulsion.

— By Curbed Atlanta contributor Tyler Estep

· Step inside the Clermont Hotel [Creative Loafing]

· Clermont Hotel Redux: Restaurant, Rooftop Bar Included? [Curbed Atlanta]