City school district seeks bids for asbestos removal

By Harold Gwin

The district is tearing down 17 old schools in the rebuilding program.

YOUNGSTOWN — It could cost more than $1 million to safely remove the asbestos from the vacant Princeton School on Hillman Street.

The city school board has voted to seek bids for asbestos removal from Princeton and the vacant Adams School on Cooper Street in preparation for their eventual demolition.

Tests show that Princeton has more asbestos than Adams, and the engineering estimate for its removal is $1,250,000. The estimate for Adams is $500,000.

Once the asbestos is removed, the board will seek bids to demolish the buildings.

The board also has agreed to pay Strollo Architects $9,000 to prepare the Princeton demolition bid documents. Olsavsky Jaminet Architects is getting $10,200 to do the demolition documents for Adams.

Princeton is still occupied temporarily by Alpha School of Excellence, which will move into the new Wilson Middle School being built on Gibson Street and scheduled to open next fall.

The work is part of a $190 million school rebuilding program, and the Ohio School Facilities Commission is picking up 80 percent of the costs. Thirteen schools are being replaced or renovated and expanded. Wilson is the last of them. The number being demolished is 17.

When it’s all done, only four old, vacant schools will remain — Hayes, Lincoln, Harrison and Haddow, according to Tony DeNiro, assistant superintendent for school business affairs. Removing old buildings that aren’t being replaced provides some neighborhood green space, he said.

Board member Lock P. Beachum Sr. asked if the district will have enough money in its demolition fund to tear down the Princeton and Adams buildings.

Steve Ludwinski of Heery International, the district’s rebuilding program construction manager, said that is the hope, if bids continue to come in below engineering estimates as they have done on recent contracts for both demolition and construction. The economy has slowed the construction market, he said.

He told the board in October that a meeting with the OSFC showed that Youngstown had about $2.1 million left in the demolition account. That should be sufficient to cover the Adams and Princeton buildings, he said.

The school board is taking steps to preserve the Haddow building on Oak Street Extension.

The boiler in the building has failed and cannot be repaired. The board voted to pay Western Reserve Mechanical $56,925 to replace it.

Among the old buildings, Haddow is in the best condition, and steps need to be taken to preserve it before winter, DeNiro said, noting it will take two to three weeks for the installation of the new boiler.

The building is being used for storage now but could be used as a school again if needed, he said.

gwin@vindy.com