MERCER COUNTY Service center bids lower than estimates

Programs will be temporarily relocated in a nearby five-bedroom apartment.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
SHARON, Pa. -- Bids on a new Quinby Street Service Center came in below Mercer County Housing Authority estimates Wednesday.
The architect's estimate for the job was $450,000, but the lowest base bids opened Wednesday put the cost at $412,470.
L. DeWitt Boosel, authority executive director, said the agency hopes to get the number down to about $400,000 by using alternative bid deductions.
The authority plans to use $100,000 in federal grant funds but will have to take the rest from its operating budget, Boosel said.
The authority board approved awarding the contracts to the lowest bidders, pending a review of all bid documents by its attorney and the project architect.
The center, which once served as the housing authority's offices, sat vacant for several years before Sharon authorities put a police substation there six years ago in an effort to crack down on drug trafficking and other illegal activity in that area. The presence of the police quickly attracted various community service and educational programs and the center has outgrown its space.
No disruption: Boosel said the old center will be torn down and the new one built at the same location.
Most of the demolition cost is included in the general construction contract for the new building, he said.
The center programs won't stop while a new facility is being built. Boosel said a five-bedroom apartment in the authority's housing complex on Spearman Avenue, less than a block away, is being converted into temporary quarters for those programs.
The new center should be ready for occupancy by Feb. 28, 2002.
Other matters: In other business, Boosel said an initial bid for Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency tax credits to help with the razing and rebuilding of the 100-unit Steel City Terrace apartment complex in Farrell has been rejected.
The project, which will result in 135 new housing units that will blend in with the surrounding residential community, has a total cost of $28 million and the authority has already secured a $9 million federal grant under the Hope VI program banner to help with the financing.
The agency has also pledged $1.44 million from other federal grants for the project and is hoping to secure $17 million in tax credits to cover the rest.
Boosel said the initial application for the credits covered the first phase of the Hope VI project and sought $4.8 million in tax credit equity from banks, insurance companies and other businesses in exchange for credits on their corporate income taxes.
A new application will be filed in May, the next Housing Finance Agency funding period.