Like the old Elton John song, the old Hamilton Laundry is “still standing.”
The City Council on Monday night will rescind a bid for demolition of the building on Hamilton Street that some day will make way for a 1,000-seat amphitheater.
With demolition permits approved by the state Department of Environmental Protection earlier this year, a $281,000 bid had been awarded by the council in May. The governing body was legally required to reject the bid from LVI/Mazzocchi Wrecking after it was challenged by another bidder, City Attorney Louis Rainone explained at last night’s council pre-conference meeting.
Long story short: LVI didn’t file the appropriate paperwork. The next lowest bidder was $90,000 higher, which would have impacted the budget, said Rainone. Councilman Jerry Scaturo questioned how a second round of bids would be affected after rejecting the first round, but Rainone was hopeful the bids would come back lower when re-bid next week and not “delay the project substantially.”
City Chief Financial Officer Frank Ruggiero expects the council will award a new demolition bid by next month’s meeting (Aug. 11), and work could conceivably begin within a month or so after that.