Columbia Borough Council votes to demolish Franklin Street property

700 Franklin Street 

Columbia Borough Council voted unanimously Tuesday evening to approve the demolition of 700 Franklin Street, in addition to accessory structures remaining at the McGinness homestead site of 1020 Manor Street, to clear the way for a planned business park.

Council awarded the demolition contract to Farhat Excavating, LLC, which submitted the lowest bid of $52,780.00 among nine contractors competing for the project.

The decision comes after unsuccessful efforts to preserve the Franklin Street dwelling. In December 2024, the borough solicited bids for the sale and relocation of the 700 Franklin Street property, but received no offers, making demolition "the logical option to keep the project progressing forward," according to a borough executive brief.

C.S. Davidson, the engineering firm handling the bidding process, publicly advertised the demolition contract in LNP/LancasterOnline and opened bids via PennBid on April 17, 2025.

The complete list of bids received:

- Farhat Excavating, LLC: $52,780.00

- Tamco Construction Inc.: $57,180.00

- Pennell Services: $57,500.00

- Victory Gardens, Inc.: $59,939.50

- Ben Washington: $60,000.00

- Empire Demolition: $62,440.00

- SDL Construction LLC: $62,500.00

- Saway: $66,900.00

- A.T.O Excavating, Inc.: $78,750.00