ProQuality Submits Low Bid for ‘Wick Six’ Demo Work

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – City officials expect work to begin in mid-August on the demolition of six former car dealership structures on Wick Avenue.

ProQuality Demolition, Campbell, was the lowest of the six bidders that submitted proposals for demolition and environmental remediation of the former “Wick Six” properties north of Youngstown State University.

ProQuality’s bid of $362,500 for the work was also among the four proposals that came in under the engineer’s estimate of $620,000.

The structures are on two blocks bordered by Strausbaugh Avenue and Olive Street and Sycamore Street and Linden Avenue. A third block between the two others has vacant land that requires remediation, including asbestos abatement from a demolition there, said Abby Beniston, code enforcement and blight remediation superintendent.

“There’s a lot” of asbestos in the buildings,” Beniston said. “In fact, some of them are going to be live loaded.”

Work on the project area should be underway by mid-August, Chuck Shasho, deputy director of public works, said. Once the Board of Control approves the contract, ProQuality has 10 days to sign it, then must prepare health and safety plans and post environmental notices.

The contract calls for the company to complete the work in 120 days.

Youngstown must also make sure that ProQuality’s math is correct and that the contractor has everything covered, Shasho said. ProQuality “has done projects for us in the past with no issues,” he noted.

The work is funded under an agreement with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. In lieu of paying an $88,000 fine for emissions violations at its wastewater treatment plant, the city agreed to spend up to $500,000 for the Wick Avenue work.

The Wick Six area was one of four where the city had slum and blight analyses performed earlier this year to determine their eligibility to become urban renewal areas.

The city is developing a plan for the area to present to the Youngstown Planning Commission, said Bill D’Avignon, Community Development Agency director. The commission has adopted a plan for another of the four areas, one on the East Side.

D’Avignon said “some interest” has been expressed in the Wick Avenue property but the party has made no commitment.

Pictured: One of the abandoned buildings in the “Wick Six” remediation area.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.