A tough economy is providing a silver lining for the Medical College of Georgia and possibly the city of Augusta.
The contract for razing the former Gilbert Manor public housing area next to MCG attracted 27 official bids, far more than expected, and came in much cheaper than anticipated, said Bill Bowes, MCG's senior vice president for finance and administration.
"I was rather surprised," he said, attributing the competition and lower bids to tough economic times. "We had more interest from potential contractors, and I think that tends to drive the price down."
Instead of the $3.1 million estimate, Thompson Building Wrecking Co. came in with the low bid of $640,000, Mr. Bowes said.
"It is very good news for us," he said.
The $3.1 million estimate included some site preparation work beyond demolition, and those costs have not been assessed.
"Just tearing down the buildings doesn't give them what they need as far as being able to fix the land, move the pipes and do that other stuff," City Administrator Fred Russell said. "So there's some additional costs there that will have to be plowed into that."
The city gave MCG $10 million to purchase and prepare the Gilbert Manor site, which will become the site of a new building for the School of Dentistry, a new medical commons building that will include shared classrooms and offices for the School of Medicine, and eventually a new research building. The school bought the property from the Augusta Housing Authority for $6.9 million.
The contract for the demolition work should be finalized soon and work will probably begin in a few weeks, concluding well before groundbreaking for the dental school building later this year, Mr. Bowes said.
The school has been talking to city leaders about whether to return a portion of the money or use it for unfunded parts of the expansion, such as extending Central Avenue to access the new buildings, Mr. Bowes said.
"So we're going to work with them over the next few weeks to sort all of that out," he said.
"As they have come in under budget, that will begin the conversation about, OK, where do we go from here?" Mr. Russell said.
Reach Tom Corwin at (706) 823-3213 or tom.corwin@augustachronicle.com.
MONEY MATTERS
The city of Augusta is hoping to use the next special purpose local option sales tax package to recoup the $10 million it gave the Medical College of Georgia to buy the former Gilbert Manor property.
The package has not been finalized, but City Administrator Fred Russell said he would like to see it total $185 million, pared down from $600 million in identified needs. The Augusta Commission must approve the package by March 3 in order to hold a special election on it June 16.
-- From staff reports
The Augusta Chronicle ©2010 Morris Communications, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Augusta has become the prostitute of MCG.
IMO this savings of $2.46 million is most probably the result of the bid process not being handled by the A-RC Procurement Department.
MCG has rammed it to Augusta again. Is the city ever going to get it. You have displaced countless families for a parking lot.
Displaced? These families are getting money from you so they can use your money to pay their rent and other living expenses. They aren't worried about losing the job they don't have or having the home they don't own foreclosed on. They can now use your money to move into your neighborhood and not take care of the house next door to you and let their several children run wild in the neighborhood while they sleep late and are surprised to be awaken by police when one of there rotating boyfriends, who lives with them illegally, has been arrested for breaking into houses like yours... in your neighborhood.
Watch it carrera the last time I said anything about that they pulled my comment
The people in the Gilber Manor need to do what other good taxpayers are doing by getting a real job and pay your own way in society. Its people like this that are dragging our country down into poverty and will ruin this nation as they spread out among working class people. How about we give these people birth control and drug test so they can start being a productive citizen in the work place and not in the bedroom to get more free benefits!
SOS: Your point is understood, but there are no people left in Gilbert Manor. They have already been relocated!
How dumb is the AC filter? It will allow the display name in the 11:11 post, but will not allow a comment with that display name included. Apparently the filter is not used to check display names!
Igreen can you read. Where do you get a empty parking lot from. MCG will get over 200 million from the state. And a extra 6 million for the medical commons.
Gilbert manor will become the site of a new building for the School of Dentistry, a new medical commons building that will include shared classrooms and offices for the School of Medicine, and eventually a new research building. The school bought the property from the Augusta Housing Authority for $6.9 million.
Their is alot of construction going around the medical district as we speak. Several cranes are in the medical district. MCG brings plenty of money into the Augusta area. MCG cannot stop growing which is plus for Augusta. More tax revenue for the city to spend on paving roads, sidewalks, etc. MCG is building student housing on the old fat man's property. I suspect the kroger plaza and sunset aka cherry tree will be the next to be demolished. After gilbert manor is knocked down in a couple of weeks from now. I like to drive around Augusta and see all the cranes. Growth is a good thing especially for the second largest city in the state of GA.
Hell, I'm not even sure what is being said. The land is contaminated due to shade tree oil changes? The state put money into the purchase price because of those fears?