Demolition of the Calvada Eye buildings is supposed to begin within 10 days of last Monday, after Nye County Purchasing Director Judy Dyer gave Goldie Inc. the order to start work.

County commissioners last week awarded a $61,379 contract to Goldie Inc. of Las Vegas. The company has 90 days to finish the demolition work.

Last November commissioners had accepted a $42,470 demolition bid from Mills Construction. But commissioners decided to rebid the project after Mills Construction submitted a change order for another $42,950 for asbestos abatement in the pipes.

Nye County bought the 32-acre Calvada Eye for $3.2 million in August 2004.

Originally the plan was for the county to move administrative offices into the Spanish-style building that formerly housed a real estate office, steakhouse and market as part of the Calvada project. It later became used as the Calvada library and the offices of Central Nevada Utilitlies as well as Preferred Equities Corporation.

The former apartments nearby were to be used for the Nye County Nuclear Waste Repository Project Office.

But the low bid submitted in April 2008, to remodel and expand the main building, came in at $2.5 million, $700,000 over budget while a low bid to remodel the apartments was $955,000. The county had only budgeted $250,000.

Then last summer, Charles Abbott and Associates released the report of their constructability review. They said the building was in a FEMA flood hazard area and wasn't built up to today's construction standards. Charles Abbott recommended demolition and said the cost of total demolition would be $150,000 less than a partial demolition.

At the time Nye County Commissioner Gary Hollis indicated the county would try to recoup some of the $100,000 spent on the GM Architectural Firm for drawings to expand the main building from 11,000 to 18,000 square feet.

Nye County Facilities Manager Bob Jones said the county is in the process of obtaining a permit for tenant improvements at the manufactured building formerly housing Nevada JobConnect on the Calvada Eye. That is where the county now plans to relocate administrative offices and the nuclear waste repository office.

"The move is going to depend on when we get phone service from AT&T," Jones said.

The county will also have to dig a trench for fiber optic lines, he said.

There will be a little remodeling work inside the manufactured building, knocking down a wall and, combining a couple offices, he said.

Last January county commissioners voted to terminate the lease with Nevada JobConnect effective March 30. JobConnect moved to the Great Basin College addition on East Basin Avenue.