Demolition has begun at the former Eastland Center shopping mall in Harper Woods.

Out with the old, in with the new.

That’s the theme behind a few demolitions projects now underway in the suburbs to make way for more than $300 million in new development across two very different sectors.

In Birmingham, a handful of single-story buildings at the corner of Brown Street and Old Woodward Avenue have been razed, and in Harper Woods, demolition on the now-closed Eastland Center shopping mall has begun. At the former General Motors Co. Warren Transmission Plant, demolition started in January.

Demolition of the buildings that once housed Lutz Financial Services, Roche Bobois and Frank’s Shoe Service in the swank downtown are now gone from the 1 acre-plus site, said Victor Saroki, president of Birmingham-based Saroki Architecture, which is working on the project to bring the RH — formerly Restoration Hardware — flagship store to town. The new building, slated to be more than 50,000 square feet and four stories, is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter next year, Saroki said.

“They were just simple single-story buildings and they are taking the footings out today,” Saroki told me on Monday. Site excavation should begin the week of May 9. Rochester Hills-based Adams Group is the demolition contractor, while Detroit-based Sachse Construction is the construction manager on the development.

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