Excavation continues at Plum municipal site along Old Mine Road
Mar. 4—Excavation continues along Old Mine Road in Plum for the borough's new municipal center project.
Massaro Construction Management Services is overseeing Rycon Construction crews at the site, which is next to the Renton Volunteer Fire Department and Plum EMS stations.
Digging began in January and is expected to continue through April.
It's unclear when building construction will begin.
The so-called town center would house a police station, municipal offices, gym, a plaza and a community center — essentially an all-in-one government service center.
The current Plum Community Center is located at 499 Center-New Texas Road. The borough building is at 4575 New Texas Road.
The hope is to sell or lease the current borough building and lot to retail developers and use that money to help pay for the center construction. A retailer has not been announced.
Rycon Construction of Pittsburgh was the lowest of 11 bidders for the work at about $16.5 million.
Plum Borough took out a $15 million bond. Of that, $12 million would go toward the town center, $2 million for stormwater projects and $1 million for parks and recreation.
The borough's bond counsel is Ron Brown of Cohen & Grigsby. Its bond underwriter is Piper Jaffray.
Massaro officials referred questions to borough administration.
Plum EMS operations director Brian Maloney said the construction has created a minor parking inconvenience, but has not impacted emergency responses.
"We are looking forward to having the Plum family and new municipal building next door," Maloney said. "We work closely on a day-to-day basis with everyone. After seeing the plans for the new municipal building, it will be exciting to be a part of the Plum municipal center."
The borough recently approved Pennsylvania Soil & Rock to do geotechnical and structural testing at a cost of about $54,300. Crews are on-site frequently to ensure the land is safe for construction.
"When you're building a building, you have to make sure it's built on a solid foundation," Borough Manager Michael Thomas said. "They're there constantly testing, evaluating and assisting the excavators. They file reports daily. They'll be done at various stages of the project.
"They're there as a resource to the guys in the backhoes, and the excavators, and the foreman and job superintendents. When they come across a problem, when they get poor soil and different issues that weren't foreseen, they're there on-site as the experts to tell them how to handle those problems."
Pennsylvania Soil & Rock also tested the land years ago for the Plum EMS and public works buildings.
"We have a good track record with them," Thomas said. "They bring a lot of experience and knowledge about this specific site with them."
Massaro also was the construction manager for the public works and EMS buildings along Old Mine Road.
Michael DiVittorio is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Michael at 412-871-2367, mdivittorio@triblive.com or via Twitter .
