T-L Photo/CARRI GRAHAM The demolishing of the old Lent’s Club 9 on Provident-Fairpoint Road is underway.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Demolition is underway on Provident road’s old Lent’s Club 9 bar off of Route 9.

The bar, which had previously been opened since the 1950s, was owned and operated by Charlie and Carol Lent. Since its closing in 1999, the building has slowly deteriorated. Lent’s son-in-law, Dave Usenick, recently purchased the bar and the land surrounding it.

According to Usenick, the State wanted the building torn down and the land cleared by April of this year.

“So that’s what we are doing. … We’ve got about a forth of the building down (and) should have it all down by the end of May.”

They began tearing the old bar down about three weeks ago. Usenick and his friend, Jim Thomas, are working on the tearing the building down themselves. Usenick referred to the project as “Two men and a truck,” as that is how they are tearing the remanence of the building down, just the two men and their red pick-up-truck.

Usenick, who has previously owned a pizza shop in Bellaire, a grocery store, and a auto body and detail shop, both in Glencoe, says he is not planning on opening another business at this location. He plans to tear the building down, clear off and then level the land. He has a backhoe to fill in the hole, where the old bar’s basement used to be, then he will re-gravel the area, and put up a fence around the land.

Usenick added that once the tear-down is complete, he will possibly build himself a new garage on the empty piece of land where the old Club 9 once stood, in order to store his old cars.