Jefferson City receiving bids for airport terminal demolition

JEFFERSON CITY — Jefferson City Public Works has started accepting bids from contractors for demolition of the main terminal at Jefferson City Memorial Airport.

The city said it has received 13 bids since the project opened Tuesday, and while officials were originally planning for the project to cost at least $30,000, the lowest bid they have received is $24,000.

The terminal has been out of service since major flooding put nearly half of the building underwater. While the terminal has been extensively damaged from flooding before, federal regulations require any building in the 100-year flood plain that has received flood damage more than 50 percent of the buildings original value either be renovated or rebuilt.

A renovation of the terminal would require the existing building to be elevated about 10 ft., which would cost more than building a new, elevated structure.

"It essentially meant that it would have to be raised above the base flood elevation," city engineer David Bange said, "so looking at that, it was pretty easy to tell that the building wasn't fit to have that happen to it."

A proposal of the $24,000 contract will be presented at the Jefferson City Council meeting Feb. 3. The council will be able to vote on that proposal at their following meeting Feb 17. If approved, Bange said demolition should last about four weeks. He also said the city hopes to start construction on the new terminal building shortly after the current one is demolished.