Local demo contractor submits apparent low bid on Sinclair plant -- $6,250 lower on a $7.725-million bid

CEDAR RAPIDS - Local contractor D.W. Zinser Co. has submitted the apparent low bid - $7.725 million and just $6,250 lower than the next low bid - to tear down most of the flood-and-fire-damaged former Sinclair meatpacking plant.

Greg Eyerly, the city's flood-recovery director, said Monday that the City Council is apt to approve a demolition contractor for the Sinclair project on April 6.

Eyerly thought the winning contractor would begin demolition soon after the award of a contract, but he said the part of the Sinclair building near the plant's smokestack, which some want to try to refurbish and save, would come down last.

The cost to refurbish the smokestack has been put at $420,425.

Eyerly has said the smokestack is leaning, and he said some contractors have expressed concern about the stack falling on workers during the demolition.

“I think we'll have to cross some of those bridges when we get there,” Eyerly said.

Ten contractors submitted bids to the city of Cedar Rapids in what is a second round of bidding.

A first group of bids in January was rejected by the City Council after some contractors complained about the bidding process and after two contractors did not follow bid specifications.

A new round of bidding also gave the City Council a chance to ask the Cedar Rapids/Linn County Solid Waste Agency Board to reconsider how much it intended to charge to place the demolition debris in its Site 1 landfill, known as Mount Trashmore.

The agency board initially planned to charge $120 a ton for the debris, which must be handled as if it all contains asbestos.

However, the board agreed that a fee of $90 a ton was more in line with costs and yet would provide the agency with adequate funds to protect itself against any future problems with the asbestos-containing material.

The apparent second lowest bidder is Doer and Associates of Bay City, Mich.

The apparent low bid is about $2 million cheaper than bids from several firms that followed the city's specifications in the first round of bidding.