Demolition Of MacArthur Elementary To Begin

Demolition of the elementary school on Binghamton’s south side will begin in less than two weeks. MacArthur Elementary school was destroyed by the flood of September 2011. Since that time, plans have been put forth to build a new building, and the next step toward rebuilding will be tearing down the old building. Gorick Construction of Binghamton will demolish the school on Vestal Avenue, according to a resolution approved at a school board meeting on Tuesday. The company was the lowest qualified bidder and will perform the work for $447,000. Demolition, which is scheduled to start on September 30th, will take six to eight weeks. Gorick also performed the demolition of the Owego Elementary School, which was also destroyed by the flood. Construction of the new MacArthur building, which has a separate bidding process, is expected to begin in January. Earlier this year, district voters approved a $79.5 million plan to rebuild the school in the same location. At Tuesday’s meeting, officials said the new school should be ready for use by the start of the 2015 school year.