MERCER

Bids for the modernization of Valley View Homes in Mercer came in higher than expected.

Mercer County Housing Authority budgeted $750,000 for the work, but the lowest general and electrical construction bids, opened Friday, total $1,063,000.

"We will have to take a look at the numbers," said Executive Director L. DeWitt Boosel.

The authority asked for deductions from the base bids, but the deductions would subtract only tens of thousands of dollars and not hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Kenneth K. Chuzie, modernization coordinator, said he believed the authority could put off some smaller projects that also were to be funded by the authority's annual modernization grant -- about $1.5 million -- from the federal government.

"This looks really close to where we want to be," Chuzie said.

Hudson Construction Co. of Hermitage submitted the apparent low general construction bid, $896,000. The other two bids were $942,000 and $1,190,000.

Penn-Ohio Electrical Contractors, Masury, was the apparent low electrical bidder at $167,000. The only other bid was $183,000.

The project is designed along the lines of what the authority did with Malleable Heights, Sharon: to separate public space from private space and give each of the 31 apartments apartment a plot of ground to maintain and plant vegetation on.

The work also includes improving the facades of the five buildings, drainage, parking and masonry work, installing new windows and planting vegetation.

The authority also plans to extend Otter Street.

In its present configuration, Otter ends in an L-shaped parking lot within Valley View Homes. The street will be extended southward and looped to connect with East Street, although the extension would remain private.

The parking lot at the bottom of the L will be removed and converted to green space, while parking spaces will be built along the extension.

The extension would give all apartments street-facing doors, and allow greater access of emergency vehicles.

The newly installed playground will be moved, and Dumpsters will be replaced by curbside garbage pickup.

The authority hopes to start construction in September or October but, if financing can not be worked out in time, the project might not start until the spring, Boosel said.

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Joe Pinchot at jpin
chot@sharon-herald.com