The old Depot in Ironton could soon have a new roof while a proposed spec building at The Point industrial park may be put up for bid soon.

Lawrence Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Bill Dingus said last week that local officials will open bids at 2 p.m. today on the project to replace the roof and soffit of the former railway station.

Plans to add a cupola at the top of the building may not materialize, Dingus said, because the building is a historic landmark and its appearance can not be altered to such a degree.

The roof and soffit work, as well as eventual renovations to the interior of the building, is being funded with $200,000 in Empowerment Zone grants.

Meanwhile, a proposed shell building to be built at The Point should go to bid late this month or in early December. The 42,000 square foot building has an estimated construction time of approximately a month-and-a-half and Dingus said he hopes to have it ready to lease in the spring. The $1.2 million project is being paid for through loans.

Also, an infrastructure project at The Point may go to bid as early as December. Dingus said he is waiting on the Ohio Economic Development Authority and the Ohio Environmental protection Agency to sign off on the plans.

"This will really open up the 170-plus acres to for occupancy," Dingus said. "(The project includes) New water lines, sanitary sewer and an industrial quality road that will run from the back gate to the front entrance."

The infrastructure improvement project should take approximately nine months to complete.

Dingus said a project to remove a vast complex of underground electricity lines was recently completed.

"The federal government built a munitions plant there in the 1940s and all of the electricity - about 3,700 volts - was underground," Dingus said. "It had been there 50 or 60 years and there was simply no way to make it safe."

That project took about two months and was paid for through Huntington-Ironton Empowerment Zone monies.