The city could end up paying $1.8 million to demolish Pershing Center, according to an engineering consultant's report.
The estimate includes $531,300 to remove asbestos from the 57-year-old public auditorium, according to an examination by Alfred Benesch & Co.
City Public Works Director Miki Esposito said the $1.8 million price tag for demolition was lower than she expected.
“I expected it to be at least $2 million, due to the asbestos remediation,†she said.
Esposito said the city has incorporated the cost into the second year of its Capital Improvement Plan, a budget-related document that lists work the city hopes to do over the next two years. But the city still needs to find a source of funding for the work, she said.
Benesch provided two estimates for demolishing the building.
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The first involved reusing concrete crushed at the site to fill in the hole left by demolition, thereby reducing the total cost to $1.24 million. The $1.8 million estimate includes the cost of shipping concrete crushed at the site to another location.
Chin Lim, project manager for Benesch, said the additional costs for moving concrete include transportation and the dirt needed to fill in the hole.
The city is hoping that by demolishing Pershing, private developers will become more interested in the site.
Esposito said the city will need to determine a use for the site before making a decision on whether to reuse the concrete to fill in the hole.
“For instance, if a basement space were desired or underground parking, backfilling wouldn't be an option," she said.
Demolishing the building was included in two of three plans offered for the Pershing site in 2012.
The third proposal, converting Pershing into a public library, might have involved tearing down the building, but that decision would have been made later.
Mayor Chris Beutler rejected all three proposals, saying they required too much city funding.
Pershing is set to close at the end of August, a year after the city opened Pinnacle Bank Arena.