New Contractor Named For Rutland Heights Demolition

Standard Demolition Services, Inc. of Trumbull, Conn. has been named the new contractor for the demolition of the Rutland Heights Hospital property.

Demolition at the site is expected to begin by October, weather permitting, according to state Sen. Stephen Brewer (D-Barre). The company received formal notification of the award on August 12. The contract was signed August 20.

The total budget for the demolition project is $9.1 million.

The news comes just one week after Gov. Mitt Romney allocated $5.3 million toward the demolition of the state hospital buildings in his FY05 Capital Outlay budget.

The $5.3 million will help pay for further demolition, dump cleanup and the closure of the solid waste facility on the site.

Rutland Heights Hospital has been vacant since 1991. In August 2001, the legislature passed and Gov. Jane Swift signed into law a terms bill to authorize the sale of bonds to raise $10 million for the cleanup and remediation of the property.

The hospital was placed on the state’s FY04 Capital Budget Programs/Projects funding list and approximately $2.1 million was set aside for demolition, with some work already underway at that time.

The Massachusetts Division of Capital Asset Management, the state agency overseeing the hospital property, originally had awarded the demolition project to S&R Demolition of Lowell for $6.8 million.

Demolition was scheduled to begin by June 1, but issues involving the contractor delayed the project.

S&R Demolition was part of a partnership, which has since dissolved. Standard Demolition Services was the second lowest bidder, Brewer said.

"I’m thrilled," Brewer said. "It’s been a long time coming. I’ve worked through this project, through three state reps and three governors. Let the demolition begin."

Thomas Dufault, chairman of the Rutland Development and Industrial Commission, the local commission overseeing the redevelopment of the 88-acre site, said the Connecticut company is one of the original bidders.

The $9.1 million project cost is good news and leaves about "a 10 percent cushion for any overruns," he said.

Dufault said the October start date is also good news. Any later and a spring start date would be likely, he said.

"This a very large task, a lot of buildings and reclamation," Brewer said. "I always believed once we got a foot in the front door, the state would see it through its completion." Holden (Massachusetts) Landmark