The demolition of Somerville’s hulking, long-out-of-place waste transfer station began Monday with a gaggle of wrecking celebrities joining Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone and Ward 2 Alderman Maryann Heuston for a “Wallbreaking” Ceremony. The city staff impersonated Wreck-It Ralph, Mario of Nintendo fame, as well as the wrecking field’s latest hanger on, “Miley Cyrus.”

“We may be gathering to mark the tearing down of the transfer station, but we are celebrating the building of a new future for Brickbottom and InnerBelt,” said Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone. “In creating SomerVision, the city’s 20-Year Comprehensive Plan, community members designated Brickbottom/InnerBelt as a transformative area targeted for mixed-use, transit-oriented redevelopment that will provide an economic engine for our city. And with the transfer station coming down, the Green Line Extension coming in, and the grounding of McGrath under review, we are well on our way. Reclaiming this once and future thriving neighborhood will help us reach our shared SomerVision goals of creating 30,000 new jobs, new and affordable housing, and new commercial tax revenues to fund our services and schools.”

Waste Management operated a trash transfer station at the Brickbottom location until closing in the summer of 2013 as part of an agreement with the city. Prior to that, the site housed a trash incineration facility that spewed ash into the air, causing its surrounding neighborhoods to all but disappear. The Brickbottom Artists building is the lone residential outpost in the current industrial area where bustling neighborhoods once stood.

“We have an exceptional opportunity here to leverage two significant infrastructure projects—the Green Line Extension and the grounding of McGrath—to both revitalize this area as well as create new and vital links between our neighborhoods and also to our neighbors in Cambridge and Boston as well,” said Ward 2 Alderman Maryann Heuston. “I look forward to seeing a new, welcoming, flourishing neighborhood sprout from this landscape and to working with the community to make sure its transformation brings real value both to Ward 2 and our city as a whole.”

S&R Corporation began demolition of the transfer station on Monday, Oct. 28, and, weather permitting, work is expected to be complete by mid-November. The above-ground structure will be removed, the remaining foundation capped, and electric and sewer will remain intact to allow interim use of the site. The city is actively working with residents of the Brickbottom Artists building to brainstorm possibilities, among them a container market, which could repurpose shipping containers into an inviting cluster of retail locations, urban ag projects, work spaces and perhaps a café.