Contractors for the city of Campbell demolish a block of historic Youngstown Sheet and Tube company houses Tuesday morning between Andrews Street and Chamber Street. The homes are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

CAMPBELL — The historic Youngstown Sheet and Tube company homes have begun to come down.

Two excavators Tuesday were working through the rubble of what had been a seven-unit block of houses facing Delmar Avenue. The demolition through Campbell costs around $42,000, or $7,000 per unit, Mayor Bryan Tedesco said.

“We’re just cleaning up the neighborhood,” Tedesco said, adding the houses in question had become unsafe, and the city became worried about people falling through floors.

He said the small block of houses was chosen as the first to come down because it was within the city’s budget and was vacant and condemned.

More of the houses will begin to come down as soon as today in a Mahoning County Land Bank project to remove a nine-block section on Andrews Street, including the apartment that was the site of a New Year’s Eve fire that killed 38-year-old Ami Maldonado.

Land Bank Executive Director Debora Flora said the demolition, which had been in the works, was expedited following the fire.

“Everyone is aware of the tragic fatal fire. We regret that that happened, but we’ve just been focused ever since on making sure that the building is removed so that there’s no other threat to human life,” Flora said. “It is in poor condition, and we understand why the city of Campbell designated it for demolition.”

The State Fire Marshal’s Office and the Campbell Fire Department are continuing to investigate the fire. A 911 dispatcher said the Dec. 31 fire at 20 Andrews St. began at 12:50 a.m. Campbell Fire Department Capt. Greg Rosile said the building had no working utilities, a violation of a city ordinance that requires occupied residences to have working utilities.

According to the Campbell mayors office, the property did not have an occupancy permit.

Between 1917 and 1920, Youngstown Sheet and Tube constructed nearly 300 homes in the complex where the fire occurred. The prefabricated concrete estate was the first of its kind and housed mill employees.

A large percentage of the durably built homes still stand, though some were removed, according to historical accounts. They were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

The estimated $80,000 demolition of the block of houses, including the burned unit at 20 Andrews St., is possible through a $6.8 million Ohio Department of Development grant to take down nearly 600 vacant, badly blighted residential properties in Mahoning County. Part of that grant requires the land bank to seed the property afterward to prevent soil runoff. Flora said that will cost a few thousand dollars more.