Tuesday, November 17, 2009

City Hall upgrade costing more of a fortune

From the NY Post:

The cost of renovating City Hall has zoomed to an eye-popping $90 million -- nearly 50 percent more than the original estimate, The Post has learned.

Matthew Monahan, a spokesman for the Department of Design and Construction, the city agency overseeing the project, confirmed last week that the latest price of upgrading outdated operating systems in the nearly 200-year-old structure is far more than anyone had anticipated.

Monahan said construction crews that began ripping open the historic building for emergency safety repairs earlier this year encountered more serious deterioration than expected when the $62 million budget was drawn up.

"This isn't a cosmetic project," he said. "This is a rehabilitation of the seat of government. The costs aren't increasing as much as the scope of the work."

There's certainly plenty of evidence City Hall is the ultimate candidate for a "This Old House" makeover.

Construction workers found the roof was slowly rotting and were amazed at wide cracks in wooden attic beams not far from the second-floor "bullpen" that houses the mayor and his top aides.

In March, chunks of plaster fell from the ceiling of the ornate City Council chambers and an adjacent hearing room, requiring that both be shut for a couple of weeks for repairs.

The emergency repair that was supposed to cost $5.5 million has since grown to $8 million.

But the biggest budget buster is a new sub-basement for electrical and mechanical systems.

The price tag: a cool $18 million to $20 million.

6 comments:

Taxpayer said...

$90 million! Wooo! That's a big overrun.

Oh! Yeah! It's not the bid tax and spend Commissar's own money.

It's ours.

So, if the money is really ours, why should the Commissar give a good god-damn?

Don't worry. He doesn't care.

"Construction workers found the roof was slowly rotting ..."

They didn't notice that the people underneath the roof were far more rotten?

Anonymous said...

Since Bloomcreep knows how to BUY stuff, he should pay for this too.

georgetheatheist said...

Which hooker's photo is this?

Anonymous said...

primadonna changes her info more often than Granny Shulman changes her adult diapers!

gov. arnold schwarzenegger said...

I'd luff to see a bowl uf spahetti mit meatballs.

Anonymous said...

If they didn't wait until the ceiling fell on them it would not be so bad..How typical....