The last meeting of the Coal Grove Village Council earlier this month may be seen as the beginning of the end for the Carlyle Tile plant.

That is when the bids for two crucial steps in the demolition process were awarded, and the eyesore came one step closer to being eliminated.

Disposal Solutions of Middletown was awarded the $330,000 contract for asbestos abatement. The $280,000 bid for contaminated soil removal will go to Environmental Demolition Inc., from Covington, Ky.

The two companies beat out 15 different groups that picked up bid packages for the two projects.

Eager to get the project under way, contractors have been given July 10 as the deadline for them to begin their work. Once they start, they will have 45 days to complete

the soil removal, and 145 days for asbestos abatement.

While the walls of the facility won’t be brought down, Coal Grove village clerk Debbie Fields said residents will start to notice a difference.

“That’ll take off a lot of the roof and some of the insides,” Fields said. “It’s going to be a busy time on the riverfront.”

These first steps in reclaiming the property have been paid for through a $750,000 Clean Ohio grant from the Ohio Department of Development.

The project has actually expanded a bit to include a lab for onsite testing of the soil, which should speed things up, but will add around $130,000 to the cost.

“It will go a little more quickly that way,” Fields said.

While the grant will not cover this addition, the difference will be made up by McGinnis, Inc., the South Point-based marine company that will be developing a 52,000 square-foot building on the 30.85-acre property to be used for barge-to-rail and barge-to-truck container shipments.