The Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority voted Thursday to award a $429,877 contract to Metro Contracting & Environmental Inc. to demolish and remediate the former Woodson Gardens apartment buildings property on Best Street.
The winning bid came in at almost half what the authority estimated and budgeted for the work, $822,513. The 14-building complex is near Buffalo’s City Honors High School and the soon-to-be open property will be re-developed after a BMHA bid process next year. It is located at the edge of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.
The BMHA board, meeting Thursday, awarded the demolition contract to the Niagara Falls company as the second-lowest bidder. In all, 14 companies obtained RFP documents and 10 submitted bids.
The lowest bidder, Regional Environmental Demolition Inc., submitted a bid of $387,000. But authority legal and compliance officials said the company did not meet the required low-income and women and minority business components to meet the federal requirements for the project.
As next-lowest bidder, Metro, was awarded the contract even though its bid was $42,877, or 11 percent, higher. The next-highest bid was $459,000 and the other bids ranged as high as $764,900. The board determined that Metro met all the bid requirements.
“We’re pleased with the number and quality of the bids we received for this important redevelopment project and we look forward to the work being completed next year,” said BMHA Deputy Director Modesto Candelario.
Given the difference between the authority’s estimate of what the work would cost and the bid award, authority officials and consultants Didonato Engineering & Design Professionals and Stohl Environmental carefully reviewed Metro’s scope of work and found it to be complete. The bid was awarded only after completing that extra review process.
In addition to building remediation of any hazardous materials and demolition, the contractor will remove all demolition material, restore lawn areas and make the site development-ready.