City hires company to clear Uptown site

[Allan]

City hires company to clear Uptown site

Tuesday, September 28, 2004

By Crystal Harmon

TIMES WRITER

Eleven buildings and the great concrete pyramids of Bay City soon will disappear from the East Side skyline.

The Bay City Commission on Monday awarded a $572,683 contract to K & D Industries, Inc. of Midland to remove the buildings and concrete piles from the 48-acre Bay Aggregates site on the Saginaw River.

K & D was the low bidder of five bids the city received.

Deputy City Manager Steven Black said workers from the company will first remove debris from the site, demolish 11 structures - mostly sheet-metal buildings - and then begin crushing and removing the large pile of concrete.

Approximately 76,000 tons of waste concrete will be crushed on site, then trucked out and sold for between $5 and $6.50 per ton for use in road construction as a base material, according to city staff members.

The clearing of the property is one step in the Uptown at RiversEdge project, a 48-acre development that will include housing, shopping, entertainment and recreation.

The city earlier this month invited developers to submit proposals for housing developments on a 10.7-acre section of the property.

Proposals are due Dec. 15 for "Columbus Cove," which would be built next to the existing Breaker Cove Condominiums. The city is seeking a mix of housing with an innovative urban waterfront design.

The bid documents indicate the condominiums will be in the $236,000-$340,000 price range and range in size from 875 square feet to 1,450 square feet.

In October, a request for proposals will go out to develop a shopping market in a renovated foundry building on the site.

- Crystal Harmon is a staff writer for The Times. She may be reached at 894-9643.