Roosevelt demolition to begin with asbestos removal – News – GoErie.com

Work is expected to begin July 1 with demolition completed by the end of this year.

A nearly century-old Erie school building will be coming down this fall.

The Erie School District on Monday opened bids to remove asbestos from the former Roosevelt Middle School at 2300 Cranberry St. and to demolish the school when thats finished.

The Erie School Board is expected to award the bids by June 11.

Asbestos abatement is expected to begin about July 1.

Demolition should begin by September and be completed by the end of the year, said Neal Brokman, executive director of operations for the school district.

There were four bids to remove asbestos from the 99,000-square-foot building. The bids ranged from $178,000 to $587,000, Brokman said.

Asbestos abatement is expected to take about a month to complete, Brokman said.

There were 12 bids to demolish the building once asbestos is removed. The bids ranged from $379,000 to $1,248,000, Brokman said.

The asbestos abatement and demolition bids will be reviewed by architects to make sure they meet project specifications before they are presented to the School Board for action.

Items that can be salvaged from the building and reused, including the decorative tile surrounds from drinking fountains, have mostly been removed, Brokman said.

"At this point, anything architectural was removed by the district a while ago," he said. "We still plan to go in and take out all of the usable lockers that are in the building. That way we can repurpose them in our buildings or make them available to the community. We have received several emails and phone calls from people requesting lockers."

"Pickers" additionally have gone through the building and bought transom windows, wood shelving, cupboards, cabinets, old tables and other items, Brokman said.

The former Roosevelt Middle School had been deteriorating in recent decades and was closed in 2007. The school district tried for years to sell the building, listing it for $159,000. But there were no takers.

The school was built in 1922 and was named in honor of Theodore Roosevelt.

The Erie School District expects to allow the public to buy bricks from the longtime school. The bricks could be sold to benefit the Foundation for Eries Public Schools

"What we want to do is work with the general contractor on the job and try to arrange to salvage as many bricks as possible for people in the community who want them," Brokman said.

Contact Valerie Myers at vmyers@timesnews.com. Follow her on Twitter @ETNmyers.

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Roosevelt demolition to begin with asbestos removal - News - GoErie.com