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Two MCH Projects Go Over Budget

Posted on: Wednesday, 23 November 2005, 15:01 CST

By Gene Powell Jr., Odessa American, Texas

Nov. 23--Two projects going over budget -- each by more than $200,000 -- were the main focus of a Tuesday noon meeting of the Ector County Hospital District's construction committee.

The committee was told that the demolition of the Professional Tower on Fourth Street and Washington Avenue would cost $210,808 more than expected and that the demolition of four buildings on Second Street would cost $223,673 more than expected.

Those overruns will be presented as recommended changes to the budget during the December meeting of the hospital district's entire board.

To pay for the $400,000 in overruns, the district will table the relocation of laundry facilities and a print shop and use the $250,000 earmarked for that project on the demolitions. The rest -- $184,481 -- would come out of the district's contingency fund of more than $600,000, according to Robert Abernethy, the district's chief financial officer.

Hospital CEO William Webster reminded the committee that the contingency fund is set up to deal with incidents just like this. He also said delaying the laundry project wasn't

problematic because it was unlikely the project could be completed in this fiscal year.

The pending demolition of the Professional Tower at the corner of Fourth Street and Alleghaney Avenue stirred the most controversy. Board member Joe Buice lamented the plan to tear down the building and build a parking lot.

"As a voice of one, I object," Buice said. "Lord knows this town has few enough landmarks and that's one of them." Buice argued in favor of finding another use for the building and saving it.

Webster and Associate Administrator Tony Ruiz explained that the building doesn't meet building code. Ruiz said the hospital got a rough estimate two years ago that it could cost at least $5 million to bring it into compliance with city code and ADA requirements.

Webster also said the design of the building itself isn't conducive to other uses the hospital might need.

Board member Virgil Trower sympathized with Buice. Trower said he once felt the same way about the Professional Tower, but he said he realized the building had to come down when he was told of cost estimates to save it.

Abernethy, the district's chief financial officer, told the committee that the total cost of the project is estimated to be $720,808, a total of $210,808 more than the $510,000 budgeted for the project.

A company called Intercon has bid $484,381 for the demolition, Ruiz said. Asbestos abatement will cost $222,000, and architect and other fees make up the balance.

The actual demolition -- via wrecking ball and not implosion -- of the Fourth Street icon is scheduled to begin in February.

By that time, the district will also be working on demolishing four buildings on Second Street. That list includes the former Bruce Motel, the former Broncho Chevrolet used car sale office, the former Broncho truck sales center and the former Broncho repair shop.

The plan for the Second Street property also includes creating a defined entrance for the MCH campus from Second Street along Alleghaney Avenue. The entrance will include 10-foot wide grass insets on each side of Alleghaney, new sidewalks and ramps for wheelchair access.

There will also be other improvements made to buildings left standing.

Abernethy said the total cost of the project -- from asbestos abatement to demolition to landscaping to painting -- will cost $373,673, some $223,673 over the budgeted $150,000.

Demolition is expected to start in March.

It wasn't all bad news for the committee though.

The members also heard that the last of the 1,300 square feet of available space in the Wheatley Stewart Medical Pavilion has been leased, giving it 100 percent occupancy. Construction of office space, two examination rooms, a waiting room and a nurses station will begin in December.

Those three projects are only part of what's going on. Indeed, the campus of Medical Center Hospital will be a beehive of construction activity this winter.

MCH is also working on the cancer center, a Ronald McDonald Family Room on the second floor of the hospital, a renovation of the cafeteria and is in the planning stage of a renovation project for the operating rooms at MCH.

The cancer center project broke ground in October and is scheduled to be completed by September or October.

Construction of the Ronald McDonald Family Room on the second floor of MCH will begin in mid-December and should be completed in early March.

The cafeteria renovation is scheduled to start in December and be finished in late January.

Renovation of the operating rooms is only in the planning stages and won't be budgeted for until the 2007 fiscal year.

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Copyright (c) 2005, Odessa American, Texas

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Source: Odessa American

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