Demolition of buildings at the Hilltop House property began this week. Heavy equipment tore down the spa area Tuesday morning. Photo by Maire O’Neill/losalamosreporter.com

The pool building at the Hilltop House building has been demolished. Photo by Maire O’Neill/losalamosreporter.com

Heavy equipment in action Tuesday morning at the Hilltop House property. Workers were spraying the debris with water to keep the dust down. Photo by Maire O’Neill/losalamosreporter.com

BY MAIRE O’NEILL
maire@losalamosreporter

All-Rite Construction, LLC has begun demolition of buildings on the Hilltop House property under the terms of a task order for $883,434 plus gross receipts tax that was approved by the Los Alamos County Council June 14. The project is expected to take four months and the task order requires completion within four months of the notice to proceed.

Some notable costs submitted with the All-Rite proposal included $360,000 in fees for dumping 1,000 tons a week and $187,200 for 10 trips a day for 40 days for a total of $187,200.

The $883,434 amount does not include the asbestos abatement services provided by Southwest Hazard Control prior to the demolition process, which added about $222,425 to the project.

A lien will be placed on the property, which currently belongs to New Mexico Innovation Triangle, LLC, to recoup the cost of the entire project as provided in state law. NMIT had the opportunity to undertake the project themselves when the buildings began to deteriorate and became hazardous, but failed to do so. The Los Alamos County Assessor’s records show the land only is assessed at $658,430.

Wayne Kohlrust is the project manager for Los Alamos County.