NIAGARA FALLS — Window by window, the asymmetrical Wintergarden on Rainbow Boulevard is coming down.

But there is still potential for new life for the atrium’s steel frame — potential, at least, in another location.

George Churakos, president of contractor Mark Cerrone Inc., said the company has been contacted by “interested developers” who want to purchase the pieces of the steel atrium to reassemble.

He said the steel frame will be cut apart strategically so that it can be put back together in another location if a buyer is found.

“There could be multiple other uses that an engineer could come up with,” Churakos said.

Demolition work on the building began May 25 and is expected to be completed in late July or early August. The project also includes adding new facades to two adjoining buildings, the Quality Hotel and Suites and the vacant Rainbow Centre mall.

Mark Cerrone Inc. of Niagara Falls received a $2.2 million contract for the demolition work.

The glass-and-steel structure was constructed in 1977 and operated as a free public arboretum until 2003. The building’s most recent owner, businessman Joe Anderson, sold it to a state development agency, USA Niagara Development Corp., on April 30 for $1.2 million.

USA Niagara is demolishing the building as part of a plan to extend Old Falls Street from Niagara Falls State Park and the Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel. Work started last year to reconstruct the adjacent West Pedestrian Mall into a cobblestone street.

“We think the spirit of the West Mall project is to reactivate what is historically the prime east-west access to downtown Niagara Falls and, for the first time in a generation, to truly create the interaction between the park and the city,” said Christopher J. Schoepflin, USA Niagara president.

Because the sealing in the frames of the building contains asbestos, workers are removing the windows and the frames first. About half of the windows already have been removed, and the asbestos abatement should be completed next week, Churakos said.

Workers will then begin to dismantle the building’s 120- foot-tall steel frame.

Churakos said it will be dismantled in a way so that it can be reassembled in some form if a buyer is found. He said he could not reveal who has expressed interest in the steel frame but said the building’s design has driven the interest.

Otherwise, the building would be razed and the steel hauled off to a scrap yard, he said.

“It was such a unique building,” Churakos said.