The project was originally expected to cost $350,000 but hidden problems ballooned the price to more than $1 million.
This photograph was taken as the city prepared to demolish of the Market Square Billiards building. CHICOPEE - The City Council has approved $200,000 to pave a dirt parking lot in downtown, ending a long and expensive saga that began with the plan to raze the former Market Square Billiards building.
The city took the building at 6-20 Springfield St., which had been foreclosed on, by eminent domain in 2010 with the plans to tear it down and pave the land for a parking lot. The original cost was estimated at $350,000 and included removal of asbestos, engineering fees and paving.
But the discovery of problem-after-problem spiked the cost of tearing down the building and creating the parking lot to well over $1 million, Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette said.
He argued there was no other way to remove the structurally-compromised building from the downtown and having a deserted building that was frequently broken into by vagrants made it even more difficult to try to revitalize the city’s center.
“If not for the city it would still be sitting there,” Bissonnette said.
One new development is a judge recently ruled in the city’s favor on the eminent domain case. The city had paid $15,000 for the building while the owners, IB Property Holdings, LLC of Coral Gables, Fla., had argued it was worth more than $200,000. Bissonnette said the city is now arguing that even the $15,000 should be returned because of all the hazardous waste discovered in the building and on the surrounding property.
An engineering study done to prepare to take the building down discovered that Market Square Billiards shared a wall with the neighboring building and the city had to shore up the shared wall for an additional $250,000. Then an asbestos-covered boiler, which had been walled in with masonry, was found during demolition and had to be removed for $30,000. Workers also found more asbestos hidden under former bowling lanes which cost an additional $17,000 to remove.
Then chemicals were discovered underground that came from a long-closed dry cleaners located near the building. The chemicals had seeped into the ground, under pavement between the billiards building and the neighboring Kendall building. Two MassDevelopment grants for $210,000 were secured to assess and remove the environmental waste.
City councilors said they continue to have mixed feelings about the project but approved the funding in a 13-0 vote. The money will come out of the sale of real estate account.
“This is a long time in coming,” Councilor James K. Tillotson said. “This is going to be one of the most expensive parking lots for 25 to 30 spaces.”
But Councilor Charles Swider, who reminded councilors there are few vacant lots left in the city that are not contaminated, said business owners downtown have been waiting a long time for the project to be complete because more parking will help them.
“Things are starting to happen (downtown) and these are taxpayers, too,” he said.