Sears Site Cleanup Is Set at $500,000 : Developer Who Wins Bidding Must Pay for Removal of Asbestos, City Study Says

The developer who wins the bidding for the old Sears store in Hillcrest will have to pay an estimated $500,000 for asbestos removal before the building can be demolished, according to a study released by the city Tuesday.

The city is attempting to sell the 12-acre Sears site, including the cavernous 35-year-old building, for a minimum of $9.5 million to partially recover its $10-million investment in the property. However, some developers have balked at bidding on the site because of unanswered questions about the presence of asbestos.

The $500,000 figure is contained in a report by Ralph M. Szaras, an industrial hygienist who was hired by the city to answer the developers’ questions. Szaras inspected the building over the past several weeks and provided laboratory analyses of material suspected of containing asbestos.

He found that the most costly cleanup problem exists in the main fan room in the basement of the main building. Removal costs for that area alone will be $330,741, Szaras estimated.

The city bought the site in 1986 with the intention of turning it into a new central library, but the City Council later rejected the idea and plans were made to sell the property for a mix of retail and residential development. The bid proposals are due next month.

It is unclear what effect the $500,000 estimate will have on potential bidders, but the amount is far lower than some earlier guesses, which were as much as $1 million.

One developer reached Tuesday said he had counted on some cleanup costs and was not disturbed by the $500,000 figure. “It’s in the ballpark,” said Ted Odmark, head of the Odmark Development Co., which will submit a proposal for the site next Monday. Odmark said he expects there will be “a handful” of other bidders.

Severe Reservations

Other developers who have expressed an interest in the site could not be reached Tuesday. However, several weeks ago they expressed severe reservations about the asbestos situation in a meeting with city officials.

The city had estimated that it would cost $2.2 million to demolish the building, but, according to the developers, the city had not taken into account the removal of any asbestos that might be there.

Asbestos was widely used for insulation and fireproofing in the 1950s, but is now considered extremely hazardous because it is known to cause lung cancer and a lung disease called asbestosis.