The clean up of a rundown resort in Monroe County is officially underway.

Work to tear down the former Penn Hills Resort in Stroud Township began two years ago. That's because numerous suspicious fires kept popping up in the dilapidated buildings.

53 debris piles are getting hauled away to an approved Monroe County landfill from the former Penn Hills resort.  We’re told the contractor is already ahead of schedule in removing it. And we can already see the transformation.

Stroud Township Manager Daryl Eppley says, "In the first week they’ve hauled nearly 2400 tons of debris from the site. The hauling is still ongoing and will probably go on for another couple of weeks."

Stroud Township is tracking the amount of tonage that’s leaving the site.

Eppley says, "The property will be liened by the amount of the cost plus 10 percent so it’s going to be in the six figures and growing."

The township took action last year removing the buildings because it was a hot spot for fires and vandalism.

Eppley says, "It’s a shame that the present owners who bought the property thought they had foreign monies coming in to help them with the redevelopment of the property. It did not happen so it’s a shame that the township had to get involved. But we thought it’s in the best interest of our community to have this site cleaned up."

Everyone is glad to see it finally cleaned up but for those who knew it in it’s hayday as a honeymoon resort, it’s still bittersweet.

Ernie Camlet says, "I know it’s a necessity, there were numerous fires that were set, arson fires, before someone got hurt or worse, it had to come down. Hopefully it will find a new purpose like what they did with the golf course. Penn Hills also owned what was then Evergreen Golf Course and it’s now Forever Green Nature Preserve. In fact, we’re going for a hike tomorrow morning there."

Camlet’s grandparents owned the iconic couple’s destination and he worked there himself for 45 years. While it was the first of many things in the Poconos, like the indoor ice skating rink, you may not know it was also known for a popular Italian food.

Camlet says, "My grandmother originally started in north New Jersey with a restaurant called the WhiteHouse, very very popular and known for its pizza. So she brought her pizza recipe up to the Poconos. There were no pizzerias, I know they’re every block now, but there were no pizzerias whatsoever back then so even the local people in the nearby towns would come for the pizza."

We’re told making more great memories like that could soon be possible. It’s like a clean slate.

Eppley says, "Being that that is a zoned resort commercial property, something good could happen there. It’s a shame that it’s taken this long to get there but this could help move the redevelopment of the property forward."

The concrete buildings that remain are not included in this phase of the project. The township has an environmental consultant that will be testing the paint on those buildings to make sure there’s no lead in it. Then the township will get a better idea of when they can be removed.