Demolition has begun in downtown Wichita, KS to make way for future construction of the Sedgwick County Arena.

Crews began tearing down two buildings on Tuesday at the corner of Emporia and English.

It is the first of six different sites where buildings will come down in the next two months. Demolition should be complete by September.

In all the acquisition and demolition of the properties will cost $17 million out of the $184 million arena budget.

The county broke up the 16 buildings on the site into six separate demolition groups--giving small companies the chance to bid on the projects.