Like the Energizer Bunny, City Hall renovations just seem to keep going, and going, and going — but city officials say work really is close to completion this time.

    The project that was originally estimated to cost less than $10 million has now escalated to over $17 million, and with roughly $8 million in financing charges paid over the years, the long-term cost of the project will be around $25 million.

    Completion deadlines on the project have been pushed back so many times that Mayor Cheri Barry has declared that she won’t be announcing anymore deadlines, and City Finance and Records Director Ed Skipper, the city official who is most familiar with the project, says only that work on the building is “close” to completion.

    

Where we are now

    “The majority of the work inside is done,” Skipper said, except for a few finishing details. The outdoor landscape work, he said, is not as far along.

    Remaining work to be done inside the building includes the installation of new hand rails, finishing some of the doors, touch-up painting and painting of the fire stairs, minor corrections to marble work such as re-grouting small areas, installing glass in a few remaining areas, and final clean-up.

    He said most of the testing of electrical and mechanical systems has been completed, and some of the furnishings have been delivered.

    The landscape work is farther behind because it was not part of the original contract for City Hall renovations, Skipper said.

    When City Hall renovations first began under previous mayor John Robert Smith, Smith had plans for a large downtown park that included the front lawn of City Hall, and so did not include landscaping of that area in plans for City Hall renovations. But funding for the park was never found during the Smith administration, and the new Cheri Barry administration did not pursue the park project.

    The only landscaping provided for under the current contract is for grass and enough sidewalk to get in and out of the building. The city had to divert money for other parts of the project to pay for additional landscaping that will include additional sidewalks and handicap parking and will be designed with future improvements in lighting, landscaping, and electrical access in mind.

    Money for the additional landscaping was found by diverting funds from portions of the project that did not use all of the money they were alloted. Additionally, the cost of furnishings was reduced, although the city will still be forking over $300,000 for furnishings in City Hall.

Escalating costs

    So far, the project has generated a price tag of $17,224,230, which includes the $300,000 for furnishings, $126,102 paid to date for a historic finishes consultant, $8,542,000 for the interior renovation and landscaping, $6,462,253 for the exterior renovation, $544,075 for the selective demolition process, and $1,234,244 paid to date for design.

    Over the course of 20 years, the total project cost will be more like $25 million, with $8 million being paid in interest and fees on the money borrowed against general obligation bonds to pay for the project.

    The project, Skipper said, was exponentially more costly than anyone had ever anticipated. Original estimates were for well under $10 million, with $10 million in G.O. bonds issued for the City Hall renovations along with several smaller projects, including a new fire station.

    After the planning phase, the estimates increased, but were still well under the actual costs. Skipper said the final estimate before bids were taken on the exterior renovation phase of the project was for about $4.3 million, and that earlier estimates had been “nowhere near $4 million.” But then the bids came in and dropped a bomb on previous estimates, with the winning bid at nearly $6.6 million.

    “That (exterior renovation phase) was a major point where the cost escalated over preliminary estimates … That was more than anyone expected up to that point,” Skipper said. “But it is what it is … We had already done selective demolition… What do you do? Do you stop or do you continue?”

    In the selective demolition phase, workers deconstructed parts of the building to determine what work needed to be done in the renovation. The city found itself in the position of someone who takes something apart in order to put it back together only to find that putting it back together is more challenging than anticipated.

    Skipper said several factors went into the increased cost of the renovations. Firstly, once work began, extensive damage was uncovered that had not been apparent before the selective demolition and exterior renovation. Secondly, the cost of construction contracts and materials in general went up after Hurricane Katrina. Thirdly, the historic renovation requirements from the state’s department of archives and history, which has jurisdiction of alterations to City Hall because it’s designated a Mississippi Landmark, turned out to be somewhat more costly than anticipated.

    One of the most costly parts of the project was the $3.6 million replacement of terra cotta tiles on the exterior of the building. Originally estimated to cost around $2 million to replace, the irregularly shaped tiles that cover the outside walls like a giant puzzle were in worse shape than they appeared.

    “There was more damage than we realized at the first step or even intermediate steps,” Skipper said of the tiles that were damaged by water that also damaged the overall infrastructure of the building.

    The post-Katrina economy affected the cost because it caused a lack of competition amongst contractors who were busy with post-Katrina re-building and an increase in the cost of materials because of high demand. Skipper said only two contractors bid on the exterior renovation, with the Panola Construction bid being accepted just over a year after Katrina made landfall.

    The costs of the interior renovation were also more than anyone would have predicted when the project first began, but weren’t such a shock by the time the city took bids on that phase of the project.

    The city took out a second $10 million bond to pay for the final phase of renovations, and the council put a $10 million cap on any further spending on the project.

    “The estimates started coming back $12 to $14 million,” Skipper said. “Well, that’s a no-go. That ain’t gonna happen.”

    Skipper said the project designers were instructed to change the design in order to reduce the costs. With approval from archives and history, changes to the plan included installing fixed windows instead of operable ones, carpeting some floors on the first floor instead of restoring them, and taking fewer pains to make the new walls match the historic ones.

    The new planning cost around $127,000, but the cost of renovations dropped, and the city accepted a bid of $8,542,000 on the interior renovation, millions below the previous estimates.

    

From there to here

    When the city first began to consider making renovations to City Hall, Skipper said their main concerns were the aged HVAC system and the roof.

    “What started all this was the HVAC systems,” Skipper said. “It was so old and we knew we needed to look at the heating and air conditioning … So that triggered looking at the whole building.”

    By the time the city entered into the design contract, they were already planning on a more complete renovation that included historic restoration — but it wasn’t until the selective demolition process, Skipper said, that the city could begin to see what a big can of worms it was opening.

    “That’s when people first saw that there was more damage there,” he said, “more to it than the eye would maybe see at first.”

    The renovations have taken years longer than originally expected, but since each phase was contracted separately, the work is only about six months behind its contracted deadline. The contract contains a provision that would allow the city to seek a $500 a day fine for exceeding that deadline, but whether the mayor and city council will do so is unclear.

    While the staggering cost of the project makes it controversial, there is no arguing that the building itself will be an impressive addition to the city once renovations are complete.

    The building, originally built in 1915 and damaged by poorly made renovations in the 1950s and 1960s, will be one of the most pristine historic buildings in the state and will be a rare type of restored historic building in that it will continue to be used for its original purpose.

    “The thing to remember is it’s a significant building,” Skipper said. “It is a treasure not just to the city of Meridian, but to Mississippi and the nation … and I think our history and culture is important. The anticipation is that it will be here a hundred years from now.”

   

The Cost of Rebuilding City Hall

Phase I – Design –  $1,234,244 (to date, no expected future payments)

Phase II – Selective Demolition – $544,075

Phase III – Exterior Renovation – $6,462,253

    

Phase IV – Interior Renovation and Landscaping – $8,542,000

Furnishings: $300,000

Historic Finishes Consultant – $126,102 (to date)

Other – $15,556

Total cost of project to date: $17,224,230

Financing fees over 20 years: roughly $8 million

Project costs plus financing fees: roughly $25.2 million

City Hall Timeline

     A look at the Meridian City Hall renovation contracts with Engineering Resource Group and Panola Construction shed light on the long process of reconstructing City Hall.

    • Early 2000s — City officials begin to consider making repairs to the City Hall building because of problems with the HVAC system and roof.     

    • February 3, 2004 — City approves a contract to make plans for renovations to City Hall.

    

    • October 3, 2006 — With plans made, the city council approves a contract for the selective demolition of City Hall.

    • January, 2007 — Original deadline for selective demolition.

    • March 6, 2007 — City council approves change order for selective demolition that increases cost and extends deadline.

    • February 28, 2007 — Deadline for selective demolition after first change order.

    • May 15, 2007 — Council approves two change orders that increase cost and extend deadline.

    • May 28, 2007 — Final deadline for selective demolition.

    • November 20, 2007 — Council approves contract for exterior renovation of City Hall.

    • March 17, 2009 — Council approves change order that reduces cost and does not extend deadline for exterior renovation.

    • May 19, 2009 — Council approves contract for interior renovation of City Hall.

    • July 16, 2009 — Deadline for exterior renovation.

    • February, 2011 — Deadline for interior renovation.

    • May 23, 2011 — “Drop dead date” issued by the mayor for the completion of City Hall renovations.

    • September 1, 2011 — Amended “drop dead date”  issued by the mayor after the first “drop dead date” was not met.

    • Today — Interior renovation still ongoing.