Twenty-two contractors want a piece of the SCI Greensburg prison demolition.
Bids for the project were opened Wednesday afternoon and revealed a wide range of price estimates to remove hazardous material from the empty buildings and tear them down. With a $2 million state grant in hand to pay for the project, Hempfield manager Aaron Siko said he hopes to get it moving quickly.
“Certainly, we have to go through all the numbers to see whether the numbers line up and all the bidders have met the requirements,” he said. “We feel confident that we’re going to be able to continue moving this project forward at a good clip.”
The township bought the former state prison off Route 119 between Greensburg and Youngwood for $3.5 million with the intention of redeveloping the land. Officials intend to demolish the buildings on the 96-acre site, which closed in 2013.
Hempfield is partnering with Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corp. on the project.
Siko said he believes that partnership led to an appealing project for contractors. They were asked as part of the bid process to supply a proposed cost in three ways — for asbestos removal only, for demolition only and for both asbestos removal and demolition. Bids for the combined project ranged from $732,000 to nearly $4 million.
Officials from H.F. Lenz Engineering will review the submissions.
“We obviously have a lot of information to go through, but it’s our intent to make a recommendation and award a contract as soon as possible,” said Bryan J. Clement, associate and project engineer.
Several contractors attended the opening and took notes with the bid prices as they were read aloud.
“I think it was a great response, all in all, for the project,” Siko said.
The bids will be discussed at the Hempfield supervisors’ work session March 19. That might be too soon for a recommendation to be made because of the amount of paperwork to review, Siko said.
The IDC board last week rescinded two bids approved in January related to the purchase and salvage of a generator plant and miscellaneous electrical items at the former prison site after the original high bidder backed out. The board approved awarding S&S Recycling and Demolition’s bid for the generator plant at $60,000.
A bid for Jeff Dawson to purchase the electrical items for $12,600 was approved. The money will be put back into the project.
Ligonier Construction previously was awarded a contract to purchase a cogeneration plant and two steel frame buildings for $53,800.
The medium-security prison was built to hold 900 inmates and employed 360 people. It closed in June 2013, with state officials citing maintenance costs and a declining inmate population. It has been vacant since.
It was sold at auction in 2015 for $950,000 to Carlisle businessman David Goldsmith, who later titled it to Verdant Holdings LLC. Goldsmith announced a plan to build a veteran rehabilitation center there, a project that never materialized.
The property was foreclosed upon in 2018 and later sold at a sheriff’s sale for close to $147,000 to Midwest Bank of Detroit Lakes, Minn.
