The price to demolish Baptist Hospital will become public on Tuesday, and the firm recommended to do the job will be within the $16 million budget.
A Pensacola selection committee ranked LM Sessler Wrecking & Excavating as the top-ranked firm Thursday afternoon. The selection comes as the city and county are in talks over how much the county will contribute to the project − if at all.
Pensacola is expected to finalize a donation agreement with Baptist Hospital this month, which hinged on demolition cost coming in within budget. Under the agreement, the city will take over the old hospital property, tear it down, and redevelop it into a mixed-income development centered on a community anchor like a school.
The budget for the demolition of the old hospital is $16 million.
Baptist Hospital is expected to contribute $5.9 million to the demolition. Pensacola is receiving $7 million from the state and contributing $1 million of its own money. The city also has $5 million in grant funding to redevelop the campus.
Escambia County had tentatively pledged $2 million to the project, but last month, some commissioners were hesitant to commit any county money toward the demolition.
Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves and the County Commission were expected to discuss the project in more detail on Thursday, but that discussion was tabled until the city has the full bid for the cost of the demolition.
A selection committee met Thursday afternoon in City Hall and ranked LM Sessler as the top choice of the four firms that were short-listed for selection. All four firms were within the $16 million budget for the project, but because of city procurement rules, the full bid information can’t be released until Tuesday when the protest period for other firms to challenge the selection ends.
Some information about the firms did become public during the discussion of the four proposals on Tuesday.
Two of the firms were proposing to crush all of the concrete debris on site and have that crushed concrete spread back over the property. LM Sessler was one of the two firms that instead proposed hauling all concrete debris off-site.
Pensacola Economic Development Director Erica Grancagnolo, who was on the selection committee, noted that LM Sessler was one of the higher bids of the four firms, but their bid included pricing of remediating asbestos if it was found in the foundation of the old hospital, while the other firms’ did not. Grancagnolo said representatives of LM Sessler indicated they would credit that cost back to the city if remediation wasn’t needed.
With LM Sessler’s bid requiring debris to be hauled off, tipping fees at Escambia County’s Perdido Landfill will likely become more of an issue in the talks between the county and city.
County officials have said it is not possible to waive tipping fees at the landfill as a contribution to the project.
Reeves has suggested that the county stands to make more than $2 million off of the project in tipping fees alone, and if they don’t want to fund the project, they shouldn’t be the only local entity to directly profit from it.
“What we’re asking for is a contribution equivalent to the profit that the county stands to make off of the project,” Reeves said last month. “That’s what we’re looking for. And listen, if there’s controls that the county wants in place, if they want to be the last $2 million in, and we only need $1.5 million, I’m OK with that.”
LM Sessler also gave a one-year time estimate to demolish the hospital with completion estimated at around October 2026, according to comments made Thursday by selection committee member and City Facilities and Fleet Management Director Russell Sweatt.
Once the project gets underway the city will use public engagement to help determine what shape development at the site will take.
Reeves said Tuesday that the city would look to hire a consultant to ensure a strong public engagement process that will seek out people in the neighborhood who may not be aware of the project. He said he hopes that the process could begin as soon as May or June.
“What I don’t want is someone walking out their front door or down their street, seeing a wrecking ball going through a building and saying, ‘Well, they’ve already decided,’” Reeves said. “We haven’t decided. The community matters in this, and I stand behind our record of community engagement, enhancing community engagement, and that will be no exception here.”
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola has picked a firm to tear down Baptist Hospital. Now we wait to see their price.
Reporting by Jim Little, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
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