The former NAPA building in downtown Bloomington is being demolished Wednesday to make way for expanding the Bloomington convention center.
The building was more recently used as the county’s Elections Operations center. Demolition begins at 8 a.m.
The Capital Improvement Board last week also said more than half of the bids are approved and the budget is on track for the project.
Read more: Utility relocation work, permitting underway on convention center expansion
The CIB is managing the project.
Bids are estimated at $22 million and came in around $16.5 million.
Board president John Whikehart said that only accounts for about half.
“So before you jump on, gosh, there's $6,000,000 bucks. We're not finished yet,” he said.
Whikehart said he reviewed bidder exemptions from the board’s pre qualifications. He said six contracts are union and five are non-union.
“What I'm looking at is, you know, first of all, consistency, fairness, consistency and is it equitable to approve this exemption?”
He said all of them are identical to previous exemption requests in that the contractors aren’t big enough to have an apprentice program.
The board is now looking at non-construction items such as tables, chairs, signage, and AV systems. A recommendation for furniture planning and wayfinding graphic design consultants were approved.
One lane of Third Street is closed, and a pedestrian walk-around has been added to begin building the $52 million expansion.
