Downtown Facade Grant Program Making an Impact

IRONWOOD, MI - Wednesday, January 23, 2008 - Progress continues on the Downtown Ironwood Facade Grant program. New windows and an entry door were installed at the North Light Studio, 124 East Aurora Street , on Monday.

According to Jane Bowman, acting Community Development Director, three projects were given the go ahead; one is fully completed, while the other two are nearly completed. "They're not quite done, Demasi's (Pizza King Joe) got a few little items left, but that was one of them. Coleman Engineering -- that's completed, and that was just simply soffit work around the building there. Mattson's TV, I haven't signed contracts yet with them, but that's a go. And then North Light Photography should be done shortly - if not done already."

"Those are the only ones that were given the go ahead because we received two bids. We have to have at least two bids on all the projects before we can give it a go. And, there's two phases. Phase I had sixteen participants and only five of those were given the go because we had two bids on it. Phase II involves nine, and we haven't bid that out yet. We just got awarded that one." explained Ms. Bowman.

The City of Ironwood was awarded the maximum grant amount allowed of $200,000 for Phase I of the project. The grant is a "dollar for dollar match" so the property owners are required to pay 50% of the cost of the improvements to their buildings. That means a total of $400,000 in Downtown improvements will result from that phase. Phase II of the grant totaled $130,178, so $260,356 in total improvements will be realized, bringing the grand total for both phases of the project to $660,356. "Right now we have to bid out Phase II, and we did write some specs that we will be bidding out."

"The project is moving slowly because we have to try to get two bids," Bowman said, "and we're going to be bidding it out again -- both Phase I and Phase II in early February, in hopes to get going in the spring. So, we're at the point. We need to get those bids! And we are going tobe advertising for the bids. Because we've bid this out already, three times in Phase I and haven't received what we want to receive in bids -- we're going to spread it out a bit, maybe advertise in Wisconsin more, or someplace else." Bowman added.

Bowman explained that few local contractors have participated, and she went on to explain why, "The State of Michigan wanted one contractor to handle everything. We're not getting that, so they have allowed us to go to single contractors, but because Davis-Bacon wages are involved, it's a little bit more difficult than my housing projects."

Back in 1931, the U.S. Federal government passed the Davis-Bacon Act, a law which established the requirement for paying prevailing wages on publicworks projects. According to the Davis-Bacon Act, all federal government construction contracts, and most contracts for federally assisted construction over $2,000, must include provisions for paying workers on-site no less than the locally prevailing wages and benefits paid on similar projects.

"The State of Michigan is looking at the total cost, not the individual ones." Bowman continued, "They're looking at it as one big project. And it's really holding us up, and that's why the little contractors don't want to bid."

"So we're going to try to spread it out a little bit and see if we can get one contractor-- we don't care if they sub it -- but we would just have one contractor." Jane went on to explain that dealing with the red tape involved in this project is very frustrating. "Even if the one bid comes in reasonable, they still won't accept it because there's not two!"

"We're going to try to push it here in February to get things going," Bowman explained, "Phase I projects have to be completed by the end of this year. Because we were just awarded Phase II, that's a two year project, so that's the end of next year. So we have a little bit of leeway on Phase II." Bowman said she was surprised there hasn't been more local contractor interest in the project considering the overall money involved.

PIZZA KING JOE'S

Pizza King Joe's project included new siding, new windows, new entry doors, and a new canopy. The project vastly improved the appearance and efficiency of the well-established restaurant located near the Montreal bridge at 400 Silver Street, Ironwood.

"The building is still old, but it looks really good with the canopy and everything it looks nice. It's a tremendous entryway into Ironwood." Bowman said of the Pizza King Joe's project.

Building owner Louise Demasi had this to say, "I don't have any complaints! I guess it helps, when anybody enters into Ironwood, it's the first thing they see!"

"It's not bad at all. It's an old building, their not going to change that!" She added.

NORTH LIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY

"I had them put in a new door and new front windows," explained Gerard Lauzon, owner of North Light Photography building.

"It took a little time, but it's something I've wanted to do and it's going to save me money on heating. And that was kind of the big thing! I had really old windows. But to get the help -- and the City's been really good about it -- you know their end of the deal. They've kept me up to date about what's going on and what's going to happen. And I've just kind of been waiting for the doors and the windows to come in. My part was supposed to be done by December, but the contractor just didn't have the stuff done or was too busy with other things -- but they just put them in. They did a great job! They're going to come and do some finishing work yet this week." Lauzon said.

According to Lauzon the windows are fully installed, but there is some weather stripping and trim work that has to be done to complete the job. "They had to order some more metal plating for the outside." he said. The new windows and doors are state of the art high efficiency glass. "The guy that put them in showed me where the air was coming in. Even around the sides and stuff, it just wasn't packed in there real well. So I'm looking forward to being able to heat the front of my store, you know, at all -- to begin with. It's been so hard to do! And just the savings, so I'm excited about it!"

COLEMAN ENGINEERING

As previously mentioned, the Coleman building is the only Facade Grant project that is fully completed. Soffits were replaced around the entire building located at 200 East Ayer Street.

John Garske, President of Coleman Engineering, told the Chronicle, "I was a little hesitant of the whole thing because I thought, you're going to hopefully get a deal out of it. And it winds up taking twice as long, when you think you're getting a deal. But, I was very pleased. I was pleasantly surprised that everything went smoothly and the contractor did a very, very good job, under pretty adverse conditions here in the winter!"

Star Light Construction was the contractor for the project, "and they were excellent!" Garske said.

"The City was quite good. Pat Merrill did a lot of the leg work. The State -- the MEDC -- which was implementing the program was a pain, but the City dealt with all of that. And the City, to deal with, was excellent -- very, very good!" Garske explained.

MATTSON'S T.V. & APPLIANCE

Facade improvements to the Mattson's building, at 122 East Aurora Street, are expected to begin shortly.

Jim Albert