By Kevin Hanson, The Courier-Herald

The face of downtown Enumclaw will undergo a major change beginning next week, as the familiar building at the corner of Cole Street and Myrtle Avenue - home to The Courier-Herald and three other businesses - starts to come down.

Work crews will begin Monday with asbestos abatement, then quickly shift gears into actual demolition of the building, which sits on the northeast corner of the Cole/Myrtle intersection. If all goes as planned, walls could begin coming down before the end of next week.

The old building suffered damage during the February 2001 earthquake and repairs were made at that time. Looking to the future, however, owners determined it would be best to rebuild, rather than upgrade, the aging structure.

Tenants have moved out, except for the newspaper operation, which will spend its final day in the building at 1627 Cole St. on Friday. A team of movers will descend on the building Saturday, transporting desks, chairs, computers and telephones to the newspaper's new, temporary quarters at 911 Battersby Ave. (the city-owned building that formerly housed the Industrial Skills sheltered workshop).

After the current building has been razed, a new structure will spring to life at the very visible downtown corner. It's estimated the one-story, brick building will take about 10 months to construct, meaning the staff of The Courier-Herald could be working from their new quarters by late summer of next year. Aside from the newspaper operation, the new building will include space for up to four tenants, one fronting on Cole Street and the others facing Myrtle Avenue.

Aside from being safer, more aesthetically pleasing and allowing for modern technology, the new space will provide several design upgrades for newspaper staff. That includes a meeting room, a secure office for bookkeeping, expanded area for the news crew, a combined area for the advertising sales staff and production team, and new space for the circulation department.