Pablo Escobar's pink mansion in Miami, Florida is being demolished.

Demolition on the pink waterfront mansion in Miami Beach began on Tuesday, Associated Press reported (via Yahoo! News). The Colombian drug lord, who died in a shootout with his country's National Police in 1993, owned the property before the U.S. government seized it in 1987.

"I'm very excited to see the house of the devil disappearing right before our eyes," the property's new owner, Christian de Berdouare, told the news outlet. "This was the biggest criminal in the history of the world. I would like to be associated with something more uplifting, but nevertheless, it is a part of the city."

The four-bedroom mansion, which measured at approximately 6,500 square feet (603 square meters), was erected in 1948, the AP reported.

NY Daily News reported that he purchased the mansion for $762,500 in 1980, but a deed indicated that he only paid $10. Though the mansion was listed under Escobar's name, it's unknown whether the Medellin Cartel leader spent time in Miami Beach. U.S. authorities suspected that his men likely used the house as a hideout.

De Berdouare, who owns the Chicken Kitchen fast-food chain, was reportedly oblivious of the mansion's history before he purchased it from a private owner in May 2014 for $9.65 million, the AP noted. His wife, journalist Jennifer Valoppi, urged on having a Roman Catholic monsignor bless the property before they start building a modern home in the area.

Prior and after the demolition, the couple hired professional treasure hunters and a documentary film crew to search the property for possible connections to Escobar's cartel, the AP added. Odd holes have been discovered in floors and walls. A safe was also taken from its hole in the marble flooring before proper excavation was done, Valoppi said.

She said that former federal law enforcement officials have warned them that people might return to the mansion to steal spoils from when the Medellin Cartel was at the height of its power, the AP reported. The house had been damaged by fire and was vulnerable to break-ins after it was sold in 2014.

The seizure of Escobar's property had a huge role in the government's effort to end drug smuggling, said Mark Schnapp, an assistant U.S. attorney from 1982 to 1989, the AP wrote. He was also one of the lawyers who penned the 1986 federal indictment in Miami that identified the Medellin Cartel as an organized business venture.

Since the 1980s, seizing civil assets assisted law enforcement acts against drug cartels, the news outlet added.