State selling hundreds of surplus items from Capital Plaza Tower

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The state of Kentucky is having a gigantic spot bid sale of surplus items in the 26-story Capital Plaza Tower next week. 

Everything must go, said Finance and Administration Cabinet spokesperson Pamela Trautner, who rattled off the list of hundreds of items open for bid.

“Desks, filing cabinets, lateral filing cabinets, credenzas, tables, buffets, bookcases, shelves, hutches, typing stands, white boards, bulletin boards, pictures, typewriters, rolling partitions, projector screens, lamps, refrigerators, televisions, projectors, trash cans, chairs, and more,” she said, sounding more like an auctioneer. “There’s a lot of furniture and equipment that still has a lot of useful life. Non-profit or civic organizations that don’t have huge budgets for furnishings, small businesses or individuals, can take advantage of this and get some good deals.”

The sale takes place Aug. 9 from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. with people given bid sheets, which they turn back in after perusing the many available items.

“It’s somewhat of a challenge,” Trautner said, referring to the building’s size.  “There will be several more spot bid sales, as this will have items from only four or five floors.” 
 
Trautner said they can only use the ground floor, lobby and first floor of the vacant building for a staging area. There are some good deals to be found, she said.

The tower is scheduled for demolition in December.

The Capital Plaza Tower is part of a redevelopment project announced in May, which includes demolition of Frankfort’s tallest building at 338 feet along with the adjacent Fountain Place Shoppes and the Frankfort Civic Center. 

In its place will be a design-build-financed new five-story, 385,500 square foot state office building on eight acres where the Capital Plaza Complex currently sits, bringing in about1,500 state employees and consolidating offices spread throughout the Frankfort area.

Bids must be submitted by Sept. 12, with a contract to be awarded on Nov. 8.  More than 40 developers have signed up to participate in the project.

Finance and Administration Secretary William Landrum said as far as replacing the civic center, that would be up to someone else.

“We have public-private partnerships available, where private developers who assume the risk and can input their money toward economic growth in downtown Frankfort.”

The adjacent Capital Plaza Hotel, YMCA and Federal Building will not be part of the redevelopment with a new parking area for the hotel. Because of a lack of funding for capital projects in Kentucky, Landrum said it will be built to suit the program. “The developer will put up the up-front monies, not the state.”

Another state office building, on Sower Boulevard in the southern part of Frankfort, opened last fall and was developed the same way.

Landrum wants the new building to fit into Frankfort’s landscape.

“I want to make sure that we didn’t just have an office building, but one that was inviting and accommodating and within the historic nature and fabric of Frankfort,” he said.

It includes 1,675 spaces in a new five-level parking garage and with additional surface parking will total 2,100 spaces, plus overflow at the nearby Transportation Cabinet parking garage.