$400,000 Demolition of Tuscaloosa News Building for Saban Center Likely to Begin Soon

A staple of the downtown Tuscaloosa cityscape will likely be gone before Spring after a committee of the city council recommended proceeding with its demolition to make way for the still-being-designed Saban Center.

The council's projects committee met Tuesday afternoon and the biggest item on their agenda was the approval of a contract with Britt Demolition for the total demolition of the
Tuscaloosa News building on Nick's Kid's Avenue - what was once 28th Avenue - just south of the Mercedes-Benz Amphitheatre.

The gorgeous, 90,000-square-foot glass window-walled building is relatively new, completed in 2002 when the New York Times still owned the paper. Several corporate owners later, the space has been stripped of its printing press and staff operations moved off-site. Owner Gatehouse Media sold the building to the city for $8 million in 2019.

Britt's $396,000 contract to demolish it was the lowest responsible bid from 12 qualified companies seeking the job, according to Lee Williams of Volkert Engineering, the project managers tasked with designing the Saban Center.

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Williams said the price is great - Volkert themselves placed a bid for $750,000, he said, so the city is getting the job done at a discount if they approve the contract.

"If approved, we intend to have the contractor on-site first of October with a completion date of February 28th, 2025," Williams said of the project timeline.

Much of the other prep work for the STEM learning center has also been done - Williams said an environmental study has already determined the site is suitable for the project, a hazardous materials study found no asbestos in the newspaper building and Britt Demolition will stabilize the site for building after they clear the demolished debris from it.

The committee unanimously recommended approving the contract, which will go before the whole seven-member council at their next meeting.

Saban Center Director Audrey Buck said Tuesday that the building itself is still being designed - the scope of which has ballooned as $25 million in public funds and more than $15 million in private investment have been added to the project's more than $40 million budget from the Elevate Tuscaloosa tax plan.

"We are actually right now in design development," she said. "The bid for the actual building will not be ready until 2025 in the Spring."

Groundbreaking could follow in April, with the Center set to open sometime in 2027.

For more on the process as it unfolds and the vote on the demolition bid, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.