FALL RIVER — While the City Council debates whether to sell the Pearl Street parking garage in the heart of downtown, the multimillion-dollar repair project at the city’s other municipal garage, on Third Street, is running about three months behind and could cost.
It’s no surprise that a garage built in the late 1980s and neglected for years by its two owners, the City of Fall River and the Fall River Redevelopment Authority, is showing more damage than originally found. The Redevelopment Authority took over the garage around 2008 and handed it back to the city in 2019.
The roughly $6.5 million project on Third Street was originally scheduled to finish at the end of September, then pushed back to October. It now looks like the garage won’t reopen until mid-December, costing the city parking revenue and further displacing 206 monthly customers. It is unclear at this time wether or not the cost of the project will rise based on new infrastructure problems discovered.
“We’re assessing the needs while it’s still under construction,” said Al Oliveira, director of city operations.
Oliveira said the city continues to work with the design and construction team on new issues that are cropping up as crews jackhammer old concrete, replace rusted rebar and other reinforcing elements, and pour new concrete section by section.
The structure was X-rayed, but not all of the problems showed up until crews opened portions of the garage. The most problematic area, Oliveira said, is the garage’s open upper level. The top two floors have been closed since May 2017 because of safety concerns.
The delay is costing the city revenue not only from the garage itself but also from the metered parking spaces being used by displaced customers, many of whom are city employees.
Delay issues came to light last month
The continued delay came up during the Oct. 13 meeting of the City Council Committee on Real Estate, Facilities and Housing.
The October meeting left committee members with more questions than answers, including why the new problems with the garage’s structure were not identified at the start, how much revenue the city is losing and who will pay for the loss.
“At this point we’re learning a lot of lessons,” Oliveira said.
Every time construction workers expose concrete, “we’re finding different things,” he said.
To compound the problem, each unexpected issue must go back to the design team, Tighe & Bond, for review, Oliveira said.
“I feel confident what we’re finding and what we’re correcting is on par with what needs to happen,” he said.
City Councilor Shawn Cadime questioned whether there was any urgency to get the project done on time.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever been on a program that you’re starting to see a slip every month without seeing people pushing back,” Cadime said.
The committee is scheduled to meet again on Nov. 17 at 5 p.m. for updates and more information from the administration.
