By Bill Short
The Millington Board of Mayor and Aldermen has unanimously adopted a resolution to award a company’s bid for interior renovations of the Harrold Building.
Board members took the action during their March 9 regular monthly meeting on a motion offered by Alderman John Perales and seconded by Alderman Thomas McGee.
In its advertisement, the city sought base bid prices for the “core and shell construction,” as well as an alternative bid for the completed project.
Bids were received from four companies on Feb. 26, and the city staff decided that it was best to proceed with the base bid only.
Building Systems Group, the design consultant for the project, reviewed the required documentation supplied by each bidder.
It determined that Wagner General Contractors submitted the “lowest and best” base bid of $1,397,602, including a 10-percent contingency allowance.
The resolution authorized either Mayor Larry Dagen or City Manager Frankie Dakin to sign a contract and any related documents not exceeding the bid amount.
In 1898, E. A. Harrold’s store began in a wood-frame structure at the intersection of Easley and C streets in Millington.
Harrold constructed the current building on that site in 1907, and it served as a “center of commerce” for the city for more than 100 years.
During an August 2024 special called meeting, the board voted to purchase the Harrold Building and preserve it for public use.
It entered into a contract with the owner of two parcels located at 7922 C St. and O C St. to purchase the property for $134,778.40.
The city used monies from its Capital Improvements Fund to cover the cost of the purchase.
Millington had also recently received $1 million from its sale of the Beechwood property at 4909 Jack Huffman Blvd.
At its September 2024 regular meeting, the board unanimously passed an ordinance on final reading that amended the city’s 2024-25 fiscal year budget to appropriate $1 million for preservation and renovation of the Harrold Building.
Dakin said the building could be preserved and put it into public use for “significantly less” than what it would cost to construct a building of similar size.
While noting that the budget amendment set funds aside to begin Phase 1 of the project, he said the money from the Beechwood sale could pay for the property purchase without impacting the city’s fund balance or financing debt.
He noted that the two parcels included the entire Harrold Building and “about half” of the parking lot south of it that extends along Leroy Boatwright Avenue.
In January 2025, the city received bids from four companies for Phase 1, which included stabilizing and preserving the building, installing a new roof and “selective” demolition.
During its regular meeting that month, the board adopted a resolution to award a $224,000 bid submitted by S & K Construction for the “selective” demolition.
Tom Needham, engineering consultant for the city, said the company was the low bidder on the “first phase” of the project, which was completed in March 2025.
It included removing all the ceilings and non-load-bearing walls to determine exactly what needed to be repaired to get the building in “usable” condition.
In the 2024-25 fiscal year budget, Dakin had included a $220,000 cost estimate for the demolition and $334,000 for structural repairs.
Needham said $188,000 of the S & K bid was for the demolition, and another $36,000 was an “allowance for put-back” for the areas that would be demolished.
During its November 2025 meeting, the board adopted a resolution that approved a “change order” for the contract to complete the Harrold Building renovation.
The resolution stated that the following additional work was required:
(1) removal of all “structural members,” the elevator and “miscellaneous” items in the area from the “low building” to the “second column line” from Easley Street; and
(2) removal of existing equipment, roofing material, decking and damaged roof joists, and the installation of new joists, decking and roofing.
The resolution stated that the cost associated with this additional work was $45,000 and $125,950, respectively, which brought the new total contract amount to $394,950.
Needham said that, based on the deterioration of the building because of the leaking roof, “about 80 percent of the interior” needed to be demolished.
But he also said the project had still been “fit” to the point that the old building could be saved.
“We’ve got the outside walls braced up,” he noted. “And this resolution is to pay for the change necessary to complete all the demolition within 80 percent of the building.”
Needham said a new roof would also be installed on the “first-story portion” of the building, which was previously a restaurant, to get that facility ready to be occupied, “if need be,” on a short-term basis.
He recalled that, during a July 2024 walk-through of the building, it was discovered that the roof in a portion of one section had “fallen through.”
When another walk-through was conducted in December 2024, Needham said, it had fallen all the way to the ground.
“The environment is having an effect on the building,” he concluded. “And in my personal opinion, we need to move on it as quickly as we can to preserve this building for the future.”
