GOSHEN – Demolition of the center section of the former Orange County Government Center is complete and the reconstruction phase can begin.
Bid to rebuild the facility were due by the end of the day Tuesday.
“We believe in early January 2016, the reconstruction phase will start and then, we believe by the end of 2017, the project will be complete,” said County Executive Steven Neuhaus.
Neuhaus, left, and Chris Vrieback, pleased with the progress
Tuesday morning, officials took the media on a tour of the site to see for themselves the progress of the project.
Neuhaus was pleased that the demolition phase stayed within budget, but said he had hoped it would have gotten finished sooner.
“We’ve had a lot of obstacles in a way, mainly a number of
frivolous lawsuits, as well as some other obstacles that the county has
overcome and I would’ve liked to see it done quicker but, I think
the construction workers did a wonderful job; DPW did a wonderful job
keeping up with it, but the lawsuits were a burden,” the county
exec said. “It forced the construction workers to pick around certain
parts of the demolition when they should’ve just been able to do
their work.”
Neuhaus thinks the lawsuit proceedings are finished and will cause no further hindrance on the project.
After the last of the bids come in, the county will select contractors for what they call, “the four primes” – general contracting, HVAC, electric and plumbing. The county will select the lowest responsible bidders for the project.
