The Pearl River County Board of Supervisors has begun advertising for bids to demolish the old Movie Star building on 100 U.S. Highway 11 N. in Poplarville.

Board President J. Patrick Lee said the building is in bad shape and even though the building has been marketed for future industry, the condition of the building makes it hard to sell.

County Engineer Les Dungan said the board asked him to advertise for bids because they an estimate on the amount to perform the demolition before making a decision.

Lee said he is optimistic the building could be demolished and property cleaned up at no expense to the county.

Dungan said his firm, Dungan Engineering, has worked with a municipality before that received a net gain from the demolition of a building. He said in that particular instant, the contractors paid the city for the demolition because they received a net gain from scraping the materials left over.

Lee hopes this situation could end with a similar result. He said there are companies interested in purchasing the concrete, steel, cooper and other recyclable materials from the demolition.

Scrap metal prices are relatively high right now, Dungan said, which makes this a good time for the board to look into the demolition.

Lee said he thinks the property will be easier to market and sell as an empty lot.

Bids are due by Tuesday, May 20 at 10 a.m. and the board will consider the bids on May 21, during their regular meeting, Dungan said.

The board previously discussed demolishing the building at the April 7 Board of Supervisors meeting.