The city of St. Cloud is planning on moving ahead with the demolition of the former Tech High School cafeteria and gym in April.  St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis joined me on WJON for a radio town hall meeting.  He says the city put the demolition out for bid and the city council will look at those bids on Monday.

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Kleis says the original 1917 portion of the building and the 1938 addition will be all that is standing when the demolition is complete.  He says:

It will look like one building.  They did a good job adding '38 to '17.

Kleis says the estimates for the demolition came in below the city's projections which was approximately $6 Million.  He says the bids came in at $2.7 Million and an alternate bid of $2.8 Million. He indicates taking down this portion of the building was a part of their original plan.  Kleis explains it doesn't make sense to not remove the portions of the building they are not using.  He says it just didn't make sense cost wise to heat the portion of the building which he says they have to do so the pipes don't freeze.  Kleis indicates renovations of the cafeteria and/or gym just isn't possible because they are bad shape.

The timeline for this project if the council approves the winning bid Monday could start immediately.  Kleis says there is some internal abating work that needs to be done first before the building can come down.  He expects the internal work to be done in about 30 days with the structure coming down in April.

If you'd like to listen to my conversation with Mayor Kleis it is available in two segments below.

 

 

 

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