POCATELLO — The building that once housed Downard Funeral Home is nearly leveled after several days of demolition as part of a plan to transform the land into a parking lot for Pocatello High School students.

Demolition crews spent this past week tearing down the now-defunct funeral home, with only rubble and the last remnants of the building’s facade remaining there early Thursday afternoon.

The plan was to have the building torn down and the parking lot ready for use by students when they return from spring break on Monday.

Pocatello-Chubbuck School District 25 officials said Thursday they could not confirm whether the parking lot will in fact be open to students on Monday.

The district said while the demolition will be completed by Monday, crews might need a week to finalize the lot’s foundation before students can park there. If the lot is not available Monday morning, it will be taped off to indicate so.

The district said once the Downard property is cleared, it will provide 110 parking spaces. The lot will initially be unpaved with a gravel base. The school district plans to have the lot paved by this fall, with paving beginning this summer.

The addition of this much-needed parking lot across the street from Pocatello High School comes after the school district purchased the property where Downard Funeral Home was once located, 241 N. Garfield Ave., for $500,000 late last year.

The district bought the property from Downard’s owner Lance Peck.

The funeral home has been closed since September 2021 as the result of an ongoing criminal investigation into Peck’s operation of Downard, which resulted in the filing of 63 misdemeanor charges against him last year. The police investigation uncovered several bodies in various states of decomposition inside the funeral home.

Peck surrendered his license to operate Downard on Sept. 1, 2021, prior to police executing a search warrant at his funeral home. A jury trial in the case against Peck is expected to begin on Oct. 16.