The wrecking ball was scheduled to  descend on the Pines either Tuesday or Wednesday, said staff at the District of Muskoka. The demolition work will likely take two weeks to complete.

Once the land is cleared, it will be marketed to developers for potential affordable housing uses, said Stephen Cairns, district commissioner of finance and corporate services.

According to Cairns, the demolition work was initially to begin last November, but was delayed due to the harsh winter conditions. The project is now moving ahead as planned, he said.

Because the new Pines facility, located next door, uses a portion of the old building for storage, the district is in the midst of designing some additional space for the facility. It hopes to go to tender for the addition this June, he said.

The old Pines building has not been used as a nursing home since the new Pines facility opened next door to it in 2004. The district, however, kept a portion of the building in operation into as late as 2006 in order to maintain public use of its popular therapy pool.

The municipality closed the building for good when a new therapy pool opened at Bracebridge Sportsplex.