A Southwest Florida company has submitted the low bid to demolish City of Palms Park in Fort Myers.

Nine companies entered bids to tear down the park.  The baseball stadium and surrounding fields were the spring training home for the Boston Red Sox in the 1990's and early 2000's.

The bids came from as far away as New York and North Carolina. Three of the nine bidders are located in Southwest Florida.

One of those — HONC Destruction of Fort Myers — is the low bidder. It says it can tear down the stadium and clear the site for $987,000. This is the only bid under $1 million.

The next lowest bidder is Sessler Wrecking of Rock Hill, South Carolina. Its bid comes in at roughly $1,076,000.

The bids were submitted by a deadline of Monday, March16. WGCU received the company names and bid totals through a public records request.

The high bidder is a company in Augusta, Georgia. It bid Just over $3 million for the job. Some other bidders put in proposals for more than $2 million. None of the bidders listed a date, when the demolition would be completed.

The next formal step is the city council receiving a recommended bid from city staff. That could happen at one of the two council meetings in April, but that's not guaranteed.

Fort Myers already is gathering ideas for housing, sports complexes and businesses, for the nearly 14 acres, after demolition of City of Palms Park.

The Red Sox left the park after spring training in 2011. The city then tried to attract other Major League Baseball teams to use the stadium, but did not have success.

Fort Myers more recently tried to attract a pro soccer team for the stadium. But those efforts also failed to reach an agreement. A few months ago the city council authorized proposals for bids to demolish the park.

Mike Walcher is a reporter with WGCU News. He also teaches Journalism at Florida Gulf Coast University. WGCU is your trusted source for news and information in Southwest Florida. We are a nonprofit public service, and your support is more critical than ever. Keep public media strong and donate now. Thank you.