http://www.greenwichtime.com/news/local/scn-gt-complex4mar07,0,7787473.story?coll=green-news-local-headlines
By Martin B. Cassidy
Staff Writer
March 7, 2006
GREENWICH - The town has received bids from seven firms to demolish the police department's administration building, the lowest bid less than half the $500,000 cost the town expected to pay to level the building and make way for the construction of a new public safety complex, the town's building superintendent said.
Greenwich Building Superintendent Alan Monelli said town public works officials will review the firms bidding to demolish the 20,000 square foot police administration building, and award a contract later this month.
Five of the bids were between $250,000 and $300,000, Monelli said. One was over $500,000 and one was under $250,000. Monelli said demolition is scheduled in May and will take about a month. Police offices, including those for the chief deputy chief, and the detective and record divisions, will move into offices across the street at the central fire station, recently vacated by fire administrators.
Construction on the police station and a 177-space garage is scheduled to begin in August, Monelli said, requiring alternative parking somewhere downtown for police patrol and personal cars until the garage is completed.
Officials expect the garage to be finished well before the police station, Monelli said.
"We're trying to get the garage up first," Monelli said.
A separate contract awarded to the Greenwich-based A. Vitti Construction will relocate electric and sewer lines needed to accommodate the $61 million, 67,400-square-foot complex. That work is expected to begin in April and cause minimal disruption, Monelli said.
Police have complained that the current administration building is archaic and run down, without adequate operating space for officers, as well as necessities like evidence storage, prisoner processing, and training.
The new facility will eventually house the administration of police, fire, and emergency medical services, according to officials, including a glass and metal public atrium and a second story footbridge linking the parking garage to the renovated central fire station.
Alan Corry, head of the town's Parking Services Division said he will meet with Monelli and other public works officials this week to discuss options for relocating police vehicles.
"There are major issues and I need to be involved with the planning," Corry said.
Greenwich Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Officer Mary Ann Morrison said that it would be better for businesses if police parked patrol and personal vehicles at the multi-level lot adjacent to Greenwich Town Hall until their garage is finished.
Surface parking lots on the north and south sides of the Havemeyer Building have also been touted, Morrison said, but designating those as police parking during the project would hurt retailers and other businesses downtown.
"I think they could easily park at the Town Hall parking deck and leave the parking closest to the Avenue for the customers on the Avenue who I assure you are mostly Greenwich residents," Morrison said. "The business community is already going to endure a multi-year disruption because of the project, so the important factor is to make it the least disruptive as possible to the consumer in downtown Greenwich."
Copyright © 2006, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.