Federal Place renovation costs soar
By DAVID SKOLNICK
YOUNGSTOWN
“A ton of unforeseen circumstances” is how a city official explained the cost for a demolition project at 20 Federal Place increasing from $21,000 to $119,866.60.
“It was more demolition than we thought,” said Charles Shasho, deputy director of the city’s public works department.
The board of control approved increasing the contract with Ricottilli Construction Co. of Poland on May 13 from $21,000 to $72,000 for additional demolition work to the long-vacant fifth floor of the city-owned building at 20 W. Federal St.
The board voted Thursday to increase the contract’s cost again — this time to $119,866.60, nearly six times more than the original amount.
Most of the improvement work to the fifth floor of the former Phar-Mor corporate office building is to remove a fur vault housed there since the building was the Strouss Department Store.
VXI Global Solutions, based in Los Angeles, employs about 500 to 600 on the fourth floor.
The company is in the final stages of closing a deal with the city to expand to the fifth floor and hire about 500 more workers. A final decision by VXI is expected shortly, though a company official says it’s all but a done deal.
The first contract increase was primarily to remove and demolish a refrigeration system that cooled the fur vault.
The second increase was to level the uneven concrete floor, remove refrigeration equipment, to do unanticipated work to the ceiling, and to demolish walls that were thicker than anticipated, Shasho said.
“It’s very labor intensive and more than we anticipated,” he said.
“There were a ton of unforeseen circumstances. It’s a concrete vault with massive equipment in it.”
The work should be done in a month or two, Shasho said.
“This should be the last change order,” he said.
VXI is planning a $2.7 million expansion project.
City council has approved legislation to lend $2 million to the company for up to 12 months with an interest rate of 0.25 of a percent as well as give $650,000 — $350,000 in cash and $300,000 in utility improvements — to VXI to get the company to expand here.
The city’s board of control needs to approve the financial incentives and will do so after VXI commits to expanding at 20 Federal Place, its members say.
The Youngstown facility handles inbound customer-care calls that include providing information about products and billing for companies.
The fourth and fifth floors are about 31,000 square feet. VXI opened its Youngstown office in October 2009.