City writes coda to Phase I facade finale

The notion of approving final payment for the Phase I facade portion of the Greencastle Stellar project was music to the ears of the Greencastle Redevelopment Commission.

So much so, in fact, that board member Gwen Morris happily called for a drum roll. And about a dozen index fingers responded, rhythmically pounding out pent-up excitement and frustration on the edges of a City Hall table.

It's true, the scaffolding is gone from downtown. Painting crews have faded into the woodwork. Awnings are in place. Heck, Shuee and Sons is even finished.

Thus, after months and months of construction crews climbing all over buildings on and around the courthouse square to restore storefronts damaged in the May 2013 fire or renovate those chosen for the 2011 Stellar award, activity is taking a breather.

"So this is kind of a big deal," Redevelopment Commission President Erika Gilmore said in asking for a motion to approve the final claims docket on Phase I of the facade project. It totaled $251,945.

Mayor Sue Murray said she mailed that final payment on Thursday.

So everything is done, the mayor was asked.

Well, not exactly, she admitted. Pella Windows is coming back with substitute screens to replace some that didn't fit a couple of downtown windows well, while another issue involves one door not fitting properly.

"But no facade work," the mayor assured.

"There might be a couple more odds and ends," City Attorney Laurie Hardwick interjected.

However, those items will be taken care of under warranty and not via change-orders that would require any Redevelopment Commission approval.

Gilmore commended the efforts of Mayor Murray and City Attorney Hardwick throughout the long, often exasperating process.

Of course, completion of the first facade phase is far from finishing the entire Stellar project. For example, the parking portion has only just begun and the start of Phase II of the facade project looms as early as next month.

In fact, a meeting with property owners involved in Phase II has been scheduled for Sept. 9, the mayor said.

In the meantime, each property owner involved in Phase I will be receiving an operator's manual from Advance Restoration Co., detailing the materials used and the warranties involved. That way, property owners will know who to contact directly if there is ever an issue on what has been done to their buildings.

Meanwhile, Mayor Murray, who joined contractors on a punch-list walk-through of the South Indiana Street project Thursday morning, said she was amazed by looking at before and after photos of that area.

"It's pretty striking," she said. "It's also pretty striking when you look down the alley (between Indiana and Vine) and how that looks now."

Not so incidentally, the alley, she said, "handled the rain beautifully Saturday night."

However, that was apparently not so at the parking lot project site on the east side of the Moose Lodge.

The 2.73 inches of rain that fell in about 90 minutes Saturday night combined with the excavation work on the property to help flood the Moose Lodge. The issue there was compounded when a water line and gas line were struck during excavation because they were not buried where site drawings said they were supposed to be.

Excavation work on the old Moose lot site has been nothing but full of surprises, city officials said.

Construction crews on the parking lot project have unearthed the remnants of two old buildings that had been bulldozed into a hole, while Wednesday an old cistern was uncovered on the site.

Regardless, the crew from Gibraltar Construction is expected to begin excavation of the second downtown lot -- bounded by Jackson, Walnut and Indiana streets -- as early as next week.

The $1,135,000 parking lots project carries a 150-calendar-day completion timeframe with the Moose lot expected to be finished Nov. 1 and that other lot by Nov. 15.

In regard to another Stellar project, the commission also learned that the second round of owner-occupied home repairs has six new applications being under review.