Air-conditioning unit for Youngstown-owned downtown building was less expensive than the proposal

January 9, 2015 at 12:00a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

The installation of a new air-conditioning unit for the city-owned 20 Federal Place turned out to be cheaper than expected.

The city signed a contract nearly a year ago with Synergy LLC of Akron for $739,200 for the work. The city’s original estimate for the job was $1.3 million.

But the board of control approved a final payment Thursday to Synergy for $691,968 — $47,232 less than the estimate.

“Some work that we originally thought was needed didn’t need to be done,” said Charles Shasho, deputy director of the city’s public-works department.

The project was finished in late summer, but it wasn’t until Thursday that the final payment to Synergy was authorized by the city.

“Projects [as large as] this take a long time to process because of the scope of the work and the need to review what was done,” Shasho said.

In mid-August 2013, the air-conditioning unit at the 20 W. Federal St. building stopped working. A few days later, the city had Western Reserve Mechanical Inc. of Niles install temporary systems at a cost of $47,847 that were used until about mid-October.

As part of the project, the city also paid:

$57,298 to MS Consultants of Youngstown for design services and project oversight.

$188,000 to Trane US Inc. of LaCrosse, Wis., for a 400-ton air-cooled chiller.

$124,000 to Graybar Electric, which has a Youngstown location, for electrical equipment.

The city is looking to sell the downtown building that used to be the Phar-Mor Centre.