Bids to demolish Kinkead building in Carson City to be opened Oct. 14

Bids for the destruction of the Kinkead Building two blocks east of the Capitol will be opened Oct. 14.

Public Works Manager Gus Nuñez said eight potential bidders attended the pre-bid meeting at his office a week ago and took an extensive tour of the building. He said that tour lasted about a half day because, “bidders have to know a lot about the building to take it down.”

Nuñez said Tuesday the state may get four or five bids for the project.

“We should get a good bid,” he said.

Nuñez has vowed to demolish Kinkead, often described as the worst building the state ever put up, before the end of the year. Nuñez tried for several sessions to get the money but budgetary shortfalls and other needs kept cutting the money out. But the 2017 Legislature finally included $1.7 million in the state budget to do the job.

It has been vacant more than a decade because of fears an earthquake would cause it to collapse.

Kinkead was built in 1975 and, within months of opening, the floors started tilting, windows leaked and concrete chunks in the building’s core started breaking lose.

Now, according to Deputy Public Works administrator Chris Chimits, its floors are sagging badly and the core structure of the building is failing. It’s to the point where fire and police agencies that have been using the building for training are now required to sign release forms before entering.

Chimits said if the state waits much longer, Kinkead might collapse on its own.

The open question, however, is how the winning contractor will do the job. A fair number of state workers who formerly suffered in offices at Kinkead seem to favor imploding the building. Former Health and Human Services Director Mike Willden, now Chief of Staff to Gov. Brian Sandoval, has suggested a raffle to see who gets to push the plunger.

Nuñez said how Kinkead is demolished will be up to the winning contractor.