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Youngstown will replace the air conditioning system at 20 Federal Place
YOUNGSTOWN
Finishing a $1.5 million project to replace three elevators and two floors of windows at 20 Federal Place, the city is planning to replace the downtown office building’s broken air-conditioning system at a cost of about $1.6 million.
The system, which is several decades old, stopped working entirely last August or September, and needs to be replaced, said Charles Shasho, deputy director of the city’s public works department.
“It’s not an option to not have air conditioning,” he said. “With computers and, of course, people, it’s needed.”
Mayor John A. McNally, who’s been on the job since Jan. 1, said he heard a lot of complaints from those who work at 20 Federal Place when the air conditioning stopped working last year.
When the air-conditioning system stopped working, the city had temporary, smaller air-conditioning units at various businesses and organizations at 20 Federal Place, Shasho said. They were used for about a month or two, he said.
VXI Global Solutions, a call-center company with about 1,000 employees on the building’s fourth and fifth floors — and looking to add more workers — has its own air-conditioning system and wasn’t affected by the breakdown last year. VXI is the building’s largest employer.
City council will consider three ordinances Wednesday to authorize the board of control to:
Seek a contract, estimated at $1.3 million, with a company to handle the installation and construction work needed to put the chiller unit on the roof of the eight-story building. The contract could come in at a lower price, reducing the overall cost, Shasho said.
Purchase a 400-ton air-cooled chiller for $188,000 through a state contract with Trane, a La Crosse, Wis.-based company.
Pay $124,000 to Graybar, which has a location in Youngstown, for various electrical equipment needed for the project.
The money for the work at the 20 W. Federal St. building would come from the city’s capital-improvement budget, said Finance Director David Bozanich.
The plan is for the work to start around mid-February and take about three months to be done, Shasho said.
As part of a deal to get VXI to locate to the building in 2009 and expand in 2010, the city agreed to replace the three elevators in the lobby as well as all of the windows on the two floors that the call-center company occupies. The work cost about $1.5 million.
The windows were finished recently, and the last of the three elevators will be replaced by the end of the month, Shasho said.