ALTUS — “This is the first hurdle,” said engineer Gary Brickley about the demolition and digging going on at the corner of Main and Falcon in preparation for a new 13,650-square-foot Walgreens store.

The Oklahoma City-based Phoenix Group, which performed environmental testing at the site of an old Texaco gas station on the future Walgreens property, will soon begin a below-grade cleanup of the old site that will entail digging down some 8 to 10 feet.

State funding for the cleanup has been made available through the state fuel tax courtesy of gasoline purchasers, Brickley said, and representatives of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission are expected to be on the site Monday for an inspection.

Once the old petroleum soaked soil is excavated, it will be replaced by new soil that is already standing by at the site and demolition can then begin on the remainder of the existing complex consisting of Base Credit, the former Farmer’s Insurance and Plaza Laundry and a couple other vacant offices.

As the engineering firm for the Walgreens site, Brickley said, Fox and Drechsler is monitoring the demolition progress and keeping an eye out for any surprises. So far, he said, workers have discovered some electric and telephone lines that will need to be relocated. “It goes with the territory,” he said about those little surprises.

The 240- by 225-foot area that the new store will take up will mean the rearranging and restriping of the Plaza Shopping Center parking lot, Brickley said, as well as the placement of new street lamps that will keep the lot “wonderfully lit 24-7 ... This is by no means a small project.”