City school board set to raze more vacant buildings

By Harold Gwin

Twelve buildings are gone, and demolition contracts have been awarded for three others.

YOUNGSTOWN — Another vacant Youngstown city school building will soon be razed, and the school board learned it may have enough money to tear down two more.

The board has voted to tear down the John White building on Lyden Avenue, agreeing to pay Siegel Excavating of Edinburg, Pa., $35,900 to do the job.

Siegel was the lowest of 13 bidders on the contract (Dore & Associates of Bay City, Mich., was the highest at $94,400.) and came in well below the engineering estimate of $90,000, said Steve Ludwinski, senior project manager for Heery International Inc., the district’s construction project manager.

Youngstown is nearing the end of a multiyear, $190 million school rebuilding program that, so far, has included the demolition of 12 old buildings. Thirteen new schools are being built, with 12 of them already occupied. The Ohio School Facilities Commission is picking up about 80 percent of the cost.

The district has done well in recent bidding, both for demolition and construction work, Ludwinski said, noting the economy has slowed the construction market, making companies more competitive in seeking work.

The board voted in July to raze the old West Elementary School on North Hazelwood Avenue at a cost of $177,300. Moderalli Excavating of Poland is handling that job. In September, the board authorized the demolition of the former Hillman School on Myrtle Avenue by Wolford’s Inc. of McDonald, at a cost of $95,000.

School board members have been asking how much demolition money the district has available, and Ludwinski said a recent meeting with the OSFC showed that Youngstown has $2,092,907 left in that account.

The old Princeton building on Hillman Street and the Adams building on Cooper Street are the next targets on the list, he said.

Both buildings contain substantial amounts of asbestos that will boost the demolition costs, Ludwinski said, noting the combined engineering estimate for the two is $2,149,000.

However, both asbestos-removal and razing bids — the contracts are bid separately — have been so good that Youngstown should be able to tear down both Princeton and Adams with the money still available, he said.

For example, asbestos removal for West Elementary, estimated at $2.2 million, came in at just $652,800, according to Tony DeNiro, assistant superintendent for school business affairs.

Anthony Catale, board president, asked what would happen if the bids for Princeton and Adams should come in above the engineering estimates.

The board can reject any or all bids, Ludwinski replied.

The Adams building is vacant and can be razed immediately, but Princeton is occupied by the Alpha School of Excellence. Alpha will be moving into the New Wilson Middle School now under construction and slated to open in fall 2010.

Ludwinski said bid documents for tearing down the two schools will be prepared and presented to the board for approval.

Buildings already razed were Bennett, Bunn, Cleveland, East, Harding, Jackson, King, North, Rayen, Taft, Volney Rogers and Woodrow Wilson.

gwin@vindy.com