Hermac Demolitions
MANITOUWADGE, ON – This past week, demolition of the Hermac apartment buildings, also known at one point as the Wilroy apartments, began as Block 1 and Block 2 were torn down with the help of an excavator.
Township of Manitouwadge has been working towards riding themselves of the edifices on 10 properties of which they wrote off an estimated million dollars ($1,000,000) of associated bad debts more than a year ago. Of particular concern have been the Hermac Apartments and building known as the Manitouwadge Motor Hotel which have smashed windows, and had been deemed not feasible for repair.
$490,000 in funding from Community Adjustment Fund was received in December of 2009; this was followed up by tender submission for engineering work in March of 2010 which was awarded to DST Consulting Engineers in April of 2010.
$150,000 of additional funding was also received from a private source though the township could not confirm the timing of receipt.
In August of this year, the tender for demolition resulted in cost estimates being received in September, which were much higher than anticipated requiring the township to adjust the scope of work to lower costs before re-tendering in October 2010. The contract for demolition of the Hermac Apartments was awarded to Budget Environmental Disposal Inc last month (Nov.2010).
Hermac is the only demolition which has been approved at this point, as no additional funding has been received to deal with the hotel. There were hopes that perhaps private or government sources would provide additional funding but as of December 2010 there seems to be no other funding available to complete necessary demolitions.
The landscape in Manitouwadge continues to improve and change significantly as 2 of 4 original Hermac buildings remain to be demolished in the days to come; it is hoped that additional funding will surface to deal with the hotel.
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