HOUGHTON – Cleanup has started at the former Kirkish building downtown, City Manager Eric Waara said at Wednesday’s City Council meeting.

Waara plans to meet Thursday with the property owners and building inspector. He said he and the building inspector will primarily be there as observers.

“They want to get everything cleaned up so they can get started on the building,” he said. “Hopefully the weather’s conducive to that as we move along here … The city’s goal is we don’t want things just languishing out here. If you’re going to do something, start it and do it, and let’s get this fixed, get it down, whatever we have to do to these buildings to get that cleaned up.”

The owners plan to rebuild the third and fourth floors, Waara told the council last month.

The roof collapsed over the third and fourth floors in the back of the 106-year-old building on the early morning of Feb. 18.

Originally used by the Order of Odd Fellows, the building got its most lasting designation as the result of its use by Kirkish Furniture, which used the building starting in 1937 and owned it until 1995. The Kirkish sign remained on the side of the building until February’s collapse.

Current owners Craig Kilpela and Kurt Aho have owned the building since 2014.