Blaschka Costs [Valley Morning Star, Harlingen, Texas]

Sept. 29--HARLINGEN -- The cost of renovating the nine-story Blaschka Tower downtown would far exceed the $4 million that has been referred to throughout the years, further reviews show.

"When I talked about the project back in 2009, that estimate of $4 million included acquisition costs, complete build-out of two floors, window replacement, elevators, remediation, demolition, clean-up of outside, fire escape replacement, etc.," Mayor Chris Boswell said.

The $4 million also would cover utilities for water and fire mains, concrete, millwork, roofing and damp roofing and two elevators.

Air-condition, plumbing, a fire sprinkler system and pump, electrical work and interior build-out would be limited to only two floors.

Based on the estimates that SpawGlass Contractors, Inc. provided to the city in March 2009, the cost to finish out the rest of the floors would far exceed $4 million, not including inflation, structural engineering design, foundation work, other contingencies, insurance and the contractor's fee.

Further reviews by the Valley Morning Star regarding Blaschka Tower come amid the intent of the city, the Economic Development Corp. and the Community Improvement Board to do a trade with Wayne Blaschka'sEvery Enterprises Inc., owner of the tower.

EDC proposes to sell its North Commerce Street property, which has been appraised at $685,000, for $300,000 to the CIB. CIB would then trade the Commerce Street property for Blaschka Tower and an adjacent property, which have an appraised value of $100,000 combined. The City Commission has approved the transaction.

Amid concerns that the land sale-purchase-swap project would result in a money-pit for the city, Boswell recently said that the intent thus far is centered on the acquisition cost of $300,000, window replacement at $474,000, exterior clean up at $98,000 and an earlier commitment from the CIB to build restrooms for downtown in the amount of $250,000. "Again, that may or may not be done," Boswell said of the bathrooms, emphasizing that the city's intent is to market the property.

Blaschka has declined to comment. Blaschka, a plumbing inspector for the city of Lyford, according to state public records, also would not say what improvements, if any, have been made to the tower since a structural investigation by CASA Engineering in September 2008.

SpawGlass' estimate of March 2009 was as follows:

General requirements/demolition/asbestos remediation: $150,000

Utilities for water and fire mains: $100,000

Concrete: $105,000

Masonry cleaning and repair with scaffolds $98,000

Fire escape stairs and stair railings: $160,000

Millwork: $20,000

Roofing and damp roofing: $100,000

320 new windows and storefronts: $288,000

Interior finish of two floors: $316,800

Specialties: $35,000

Elevators, two each: $250,000

HVAC-two floors: $70,000

Plumbing-two floors: $108,000

Fire sprinkler and pump-two floors: $160,000

Electrical-two floors: $262,452.

This totaled $2.2 million and increased to $3 million with the addition of the contractor's construction contingency, general conditions and insurance and a 4 percent fee.

SpawGlass provided an updated estimate of $388,500 in July this year for the windows alone, up from the 2009 estimate of $288,000. The new estimate increased to $474,075 with insurance and a 5 percent fee. SpawGlass specified in this year's estimate on the windows that this did not include structural engineering design or asbestos or lead paint abatement.

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