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Nearly $1 million Amedia Plaza facade restoration job awarded
Cleveland company will do work on Amedia Plaza
YOUNGSTOWN
The Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority has hired a Cleveland company to restore the facade of Amedia Plaza at a cost of $964,326.
The authority’s trustees hired VIP Restoration Inc. Thursday to perform the work on the exterior of the century-old building, which is the former Pick-Ohio Hotel.
Amedia Plaza, 131 W. Boardman St., named for the late Chester A. Amedia, who was authority executive director from 1961 to 1977, is a 13-story high-rise for elderly and disabled people and houses the authority’s headquarters.
VIP was the second-lowest of six bidders for the job, with the lowest bidder having been disqualified after informing the authority that it had misinterpreted the bidding documents.
Repairs were made in 2011 after a 40-pound chunk of concrete fell about 20 feet to the sidewalk from above the main entrance colonnade in June of that year. Nobody was injured.
The job awarded Thursday consists of repairing and re-caulking windows, exterior cleaning and replacing terra cotta, which is molded clay.
“The repair of this building is important from a safety perspective,” Judith Carlin, YMHA staff attorney and human resources director, told the trustees.
VIP says on its website that it “ensures accuracy and sensitivity to every historic structure and restoration project.”
The company has worked on many Cleveland landmarks, including the Cleveland Museum of Art, Public Auditorium, West Side Market, the Horseshoe Casino and buildings at Playhouse Square and Cleveland State University.
In addition to the facade restoration, the authority staff is planning for replacement of Amedia Plaza’s cooling tower.
The heating and cooling systems for the building were installed in 1999 and are now starting to incur large repair costs, the trustees learned in a report last month from the authority’s planning and development department.
The performance of the boilers is still acceptable, but that of the chiller, which cools the entire building, is not, the report said.