The town is inviting bids for the demolition of that portion of the former Hendries Building located at 0 Central Ave, Milton, Ma, 02186 owned by the town. Bids will be accepted until 4:30 P.M. Thursday, August 7, 2014. Bids can be dropped off at the office of the Milton Board of Selectmen, 525 Canton Ave, Milton, Ma, 02186. You can find the full text here.
Will Town only accept Union / prevailing wage bids? Be interresting to know cost difference of Union. & non Union demo contractors. Connelly is using non Union demo crew, I would assume from my conversations. I’m sure it makes little $$ sense to demo building (it is one building ) using two different contractors, two time frames , two arrangements with MBTA, two permitting efforts, utility issues , etc . Is this bid process a formality or is all hope of working with Connolly gone ?
one more question: wouldn’t the Connolly demo crew have an advantage bidding (if they are allowed to) since they will already be there doing demo on Connolly’s 2/3 of building? Be great if we could at least coordinate efforts and get best $$$ deal for Town.
Malcolm,
Thanks for your comments. And those are natural questions to ask. Following is my understanding of the status.
Will Town only accept Union / prevailing wage bids?
Yes, that is my understanding.
Be interesting to know cost difference of Union. & non Union demo contractors. Connelly is using non Union demo crew, I would assume from my conversations. I’m sure it makes little $$ sense to demo building (it is one building ) using two different contractors, two time frames , two arrangements with MBTA, two permitting efforts, utility issues , etc .
Carrick Realty Trust (the Connellys) can take the building down more inexpensively than the town because they do not have to pay prevailing wage. While the contractors will be different, the town and Carrick have agreed to collaborate and take the buildings down as one. i have been told that Carrick is ready to take their portion down and has been waiting on the town. Town Meeting passed an article for funding the demolition ($250,000). That funding became available July 1st (ie start of new fiscal year). I suspect that they could not prepare the bid until the funding was available.
Is this bid process a formality or is all hope of working with Connolly gone?
The bid is not a formality.
All hope is not gone; but it is pretty thin. The town is pursuing two avenues. One is to proceed with the demolition of the building in concert with the Carrick per an agreement between the two that calls for the building to be jointly demolished by the end of September. The second is to come to a separate agreement that would allow for the town to deed the town owned portion to Carrick in exchange for a) their demolishing the entire building and b) returning to a mixed use development of commercial and condo units that reflects changes discussed in meetings held between town officials and the Connellys. Those occurred out of public view and it is not clear what was agreed to. The Connelly’s are pursuing a single track – the development of a 40B. The town has not yet provided them with a proposal to respond to.
one more question: wouldn’t the Connolly demo crew have an advantage bidding (if they are allowed to) since they will already be there doing demo on Connolly’s 2/3 of building? Be great if we could at least coordinate efforts and get best $$$ deal for Town.
I don’t know. I don’t think the team they’re using can bid as the town needs to pay prevailing wage. But the efforts between the town and Carrick will be coordinated. Whether the town can in fact demolish it’s portion of the building for only $250,000 is to be determined. Actually, there are quite a few open questions. The Selectmen will take up the issue tomorrow at their meeting. The application for a comprehensive permit will be discussed by the Board of Appeals at their meeting on Thursday.
Hope this helps.