Bidders pick away plant parts
Published 10:29 am Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Auctioneer Stuart Millner quickly auctions off an item in the bowels of the Austin Municipal Plant Tuesday morning. -- Matt Peterson/matt.peterson@austindailyherald.com
Though the Austin Municipal Plant didn’t sell everything on its auction Tuesday, the sale was no bust.
“We definitely did meet our financial expectations,” said Alex Bumgardner, Power Production Director.
Of the 233 lots for sale late Tuesday morning, only a few smaller items didn’t go. The proceeds from the auction will help decommission of the plant.
Auction totals weren’t yet available Wednesday morning.
Auctioneer Stuart Millner quickly auctions off an item in the bowels of the Austin Municipal Plant Tuesday morning. Matt Peterson/matt.peterson@austindailyherald.com
Bumgardner added the plant rid itself of many big ticket items, such as pumps, boilers and turbines. Part of the auction’s success was because of the value in some of the scrap metal, which had on-site bidders competing with online bidders — many of those bidders from out of state. The auction drew roughly 40 on-site bidders and 30 online bidders.
For now, plant employees haven’t set a deadline to move all the items out of the building, many of which will take some big efforts to move. Bumgardner suspects the move will take about three to four months.
Once all the items are removed, the plant will enter phase two of its decommission, which includes some tear-down and asbestos removal, so other businesses can use the building in the future.
