This map shows the location of the former Tyson Mexican Original plant at Huntsville and Happy Hollow roads in southeast Fayetteville.
Aerial photo: Google
The city won’t be paying to demolish the dilapidated Tyson Mexican Original factory in southeast Fayetteville after all.
Instead, a metal trader company will pay the city to disassemble and scrap the former plant at Huntsville and Happy Hollow roads.
City officials had planned to foot most of the bill to demolish the building and clear the area to make room for a new Kum & Go gas station and convenience store. Kum & Go last month purchased a portion of the city-owned property for $1.115 million and agreed to pay 25 percent of demolition costs, up to $100,000.
As an experiment to see if anyone was interested in salvaging the plant, city officials listed the property on GovDeals, a third-party online auction website similar to eBay. According to city documents, five companies submitted a total of 35 bids, which started at $500 on March 18 and ended at $91,026 two days later.
Required work
Per the specifications of the bid, Ar-Rahim will be required:
- To remove the structure to within 6 inches of the concrete slab within 90 days from issuance of the notice to proceed.
- To leave all masonry and concrete on site for grinding by a follow-on contractor.
- To provide documentation of the disposition of all material from the structure.
Source: City of Fayetteville
Dallas-based Ar-Rahim Metal Trading was the high bidder, and will soon begin work to remove the vacant building from the property.
GovDeals will take a 7.5 percent seller’s fee, leaving the city with just over $84,000.
Mayor Lioneld Jordan said he would’ve been happy to be paid any amount to have the building removed.
“This is a very good deal for the taxpayers,” said Jordan.
Once the plant is gone, the concrete slab will likely be crushed and used as part of the construction of the new Kum & Go station.
David Jurgens, the city’s utilities director, said he plans to meet with Ar-Rahim representatives in the next two weeks to discuss and evaluate the possibility of saving some of the plant parts at the request of council members Matthew Petty and Sarah Marsh.
The two aldermen in February sponsored a resolution to request city officials look into repurposing some of the former factory’s industrial equipment into aesthetic amenities to be placed on the remaining city property in a park-like setting similar to Seattle’s Gas Works Park.
