Broad Street Parkade Demolition Bids Lower Than Expected

When the town unsealed competitive bids for site last week it received a pleasant surprise – a number of the bids came in significantly lower than expected. 

, a long abandoned shopping plaza that sits on almost 20 acres of land on Broad Street, in March of this year for $1.85 million and have been proceeding ahead with remediation work at the site. The parcel is contaminated by asbestos and PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, both classified toxins, which has complicated the demolition efforts.

The town expected the total cost to remediate and demolish the parcel to cost from $1.9 million to $2.3 million, and has already spent money on the remediation efforts, but last week’s bids revealed that the cost to demolish the structure could be significantly less than expected. of an $8 million bond referendum for the project in June.

But the lowest bid for the work, by Costello Dismantling Company out of Middleboro, was estimated at $566,150, while the town also received two other bids below the $600,000 threshold; the highest bid, from Enviroguard LLC. Out of Seymour, came in at $2.4 million. The town received 17 bids for the project, but has never dealt with the Costello Dismantling Company before, according to Public Works Director Mark Carlino. The town has dealt with the third lowest bidder for the project, Environmental Services of South Windsor, who submitted a bid for $591,820, on the demolition of the former Wille’s Steakhouse property on Center Street, but Carlino noted that that work did not involve the removal of PCBs.

Carlino said the remediation work would likely cost about $600,000, but that if the town did determine that the bidders under $600,000 could complete the project, that could save the town more than $1 million of the $2.3 million the Board of Directors approved for the demolition and remediation work in June.

Carlino said the potential savings could allow the town and the Manchester Redevelopment Agency more leeway to advance other aspects of the Broad Street Redevelopment plan.

“It would still be part of the project,” Carlino said. “The money just wouldn’t need to be spent on the demolition.”

The low bids seem to be the latest in a series of positive developments for the Broad Street project. The town to draft the schematic design work for a planned expansion of Center Springs Park and connection out to Broad Street, while work on the reconstruction of Broad Street itself is also .

Carlino said the town would check the references of the lowest bidders to see if they have had any problems handling similar contracts in the past, and that the bid could be awarded in the next several weeks. He said that demolition of the parkade could commence in the spring, provided the Environmental Protection Agency approves the contractor’s plan to remove the PCBs from the building. 

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the former location of Willie's Steakhouse as Hartford Road.