Two Cincinnati companies submitted bids Tuesday for the demolition of three West High Street buildings condemned by the City of Hillsboro, according to Safety and Service Director Dick Donley.
He told The Times-Gazette that one of the contractors submitted what he called, “a very reasonable offer,” that is now being considered by the owners of the properties and their legal teams.
Evans Landscaping of Cincinnati was low bidder on the project, and Donely said that bid is the one being considered by the buildings’ owners.
On Wednesday, all of the parties involved in the litigation with the buildings appeared in a hearing before Hillsboro Municipal Court Judge David McKenna, a meeting that Donley said “went very well.”
“The individual property owners were receptive to the bids they got,” Donley said. “They are, of course, reviewing those bids with their attorneys, and I’m hoping we’ll have something definite in the next couple of weeks.”
He said the city executed a “quit claim” deed on what he called the “Slow ‘n Low” building to hasten its removal, adding that after its inspection for the presence of asbestos, it will be ready for the wrecking ball.
The buildings set to be demolished, Donley said, are located at 119, 117 and 115 W. Main St., which are the addresses for the former Slow ‘n Low restaurant building, an adjacent structure owned by Helen Walton and Joe Mahan, and a partially collapsed building owned by the J. Steven Fettro family.
Donley has maintained that employing one contractor to demolish all three buildings would be in the best interest of all parties involved, and would be a cost-savings to them as well.
“The contractor who is doing the demolition says it’ll be cheaper if one guy does them all,” he said.
Each owner would be responsible for the cost of post-demolition clean up, Donely said, and each owner would be liable according to the size of their building and what the estimate was to have it removed.
He said it’s his hope that the owners accept the bid proposal from Evans Landscaping, feeling that the company has the “know-how and the equipment to get the job done and to do it quickly.”
Reach Tim Colliver at 937-402-2571.
