VERO BEACH — The cooling towers at Vero’s Big Blue power plant are slated for demolition in the next two weeks, the first phase of clearing the riverfront gateway to the island for redevelopment that could change the look and feel of the city at some point in the future.
At the same time, partially due to the plant closing, electric bills of smaller users will be $2 less each month.
Vero Beach-based South Bay Construction will dismantle the towers at a cost of $58,000. As part of its contract, the company will gain ownership of plant components, which it can sell for reuse or scrap. If the city had retained ownership of the dismantled towers’ parts and marketed the materials itself, the demolition job would have been billed at nearly $200,000.