Demolition began on Poulsbo’s 60-year-old North Kitsap Armory on Jensen Way Tuesday afternoon. The Port of Poulsbo, which bought the building last year, will raze the land and install a parking lot.

The armory, at 19133 Jensen Way, was one of several closed by the state in 2009 as a cost-saving measure. It was opened in 1950 as battalion headquarters and a place to store equipment, weapons and vehicles.

Port commissioners decided to demolish the building after a fruitless year of searching for tenants, they told the Herald last month.