After more than 50 years serving Hinesville as a Ford dealership and a county administrative office, the building located at 101 N. Commerce St. has come tumbling down.

The building, most recently used by the Liberty County Environmental Health Office, was demolished Friday due to age and deterioration, County Administrator Joey Brown said.

County administration plans to construct a parking lot on the property and is considering design options, but so far they do not know specific budget and contract information, Brown said.

The county acquired the plot during the 1990s from Georgia Natural Gas Company, Brown said. Previously, it was leased for quite some time to Hinesville Ford, which since has relocated to 305 W. Oglethorpe Highway.

Environmental Health County Manager Linus Woodard said his department left the building last year and is working in a temporary office in the Liberty County Health Department building on Highway 84 in Flemington.

Woodard said he hopes his department, which used to conduct chemical-analysis tests on local water and food in a laboratory at the old site, can move back downtown and resume its laboratory operations.

“It works better when all the departments are closer together,” he said about having consolidated services for permitting, licensing and environmental health in adjacent venues. He said he does not know of current plans to relocate the office.