The contractor that put in the low bid to tear down a house in the 500 block of Illinois Ave. isn’t getting the job. Ottawa City Hall had approved the $19,900 demolition bid from John Pohar and Sons. Mayor Dan Aussem says a complication made Pohar unable to do the work.
He says the situation with asbestos inside the home is one Pohar doesn’t have the equipment to handle. The City Council last week rejected the bid and went with Grand Rapids Enterprises to do the work for $30,000. The company also tore down a house next door last year as the city prepares to build a sewer-lift station that’s out of the floodplain.
The old house that used to be at 515 Illinois Ave. in Ottawa was the first to go to make room for a new sewer-lift station by the Illinois River.
The house at 511 Illinois Ave., which is to come down.
511 and 515 Illinois Ave. after one demolition but before the other. The old sewer lift station that is to be replaced is partially hidden behind some trees.
This is the old Illinois River. sewer lift station in the 500 block of Illinois Ave. It will be replaced because it’s old and in the floodplain.