The Bucks County Commissioners have hired a contractor to tear down the Valley Stream Inn, a once-popular restaurant known for its crab cakes.

The county bought the building and 3 1/2 acres of land, stretching for more than 600 feet along the Neshaminy Creek in Northampton Township, earlier this year.

Demolition should start in late November or early December.

The property was flooded many times over the inn’s 55-year history, and it closed for good in September of last year after being flooded twice in two weeks, thanks to Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee.

The county plans to leave the land as open space and it could eventually become part of the park system.  It’s part of a long-term plan to protect the Neshaminy Creek and reduce flooding along its banks, from New Britain Township to where it flows into the Delaware River at the Bensalem-Bristol Township border.