Work on the largest prison in Pennsylvania, which general
contractors from Chicago and Atlanta had promised to complete last year, blew
through another deadline Oct. 24, and state officials now say it will open more
than a year behind schedule.
The concrete housing stacks at State Correctional
Institution Phoenix, built to replace the 1920s stone Graterford complex nearby
as the main detention center for Philadelphia-area inmates, is not expected to
open until at least January, the state Corrections Department now says.
Walsh Heery Joint Venture, the Pittsburgh-based group
overseeing work on the Phoenix complex in Skippack Township, Montgomery County,
is liable for $35,000 a day in damages for failing to complete its 2012
contract on schedule, according to state general services officials.
"They are 339 days behind schedule," and the
contractors owed $11.9 million, as of Oct. 25, Troy Thompson, spokesman for the
state General Services Administration, told me.
Brian McGinty, operations manager for the Walsh Heery
partnership, and other officials at the parent companies Walsh Construction Co.
in Chicago and Heery International Inc. in Atlanta haven't responded to my
inquiries.
Pennsylvania had agreed to pay the partnership $349
million, including change orders. Design and project management costs,
including expenses from arrangements that were aborted before the current deal,
take the total cost to about $400 million.
The state granted Walsh Heery a bad-weather delay last
year and would give another if there were "conditions beyond the control
of the contractor" keeping Phoenix from opening, spokesman Thompson added.
But no new extension has been granted, and officials were
at a loss last week to explain the failure to open. "This has not been the
most favorable contract in terms of the performance of the contractor,"
Thompson said.
Local officials are wondering, too.
"I have no idea what the hell is going on,"
said State Rep. Mike Vereb (R., Collegeville), whose district includes the
Graterford and Phoenix prison sites. "I'm obviously concerned."
Vereb said neighbors had complained about night lighting
from the complex and other construction-site problems.
"We don't know the reasons" for the delay,
either, Skippack Township Manager Theodore Locker Jr. told me. "It's a
quandary."
Phoenix includes two clusters of freestanding,
cross-shaped cell units east and west off a central fork-shaped building, plus
a separate unit for women, and one for prisoners sentenced to death.
Contractors have graded the site to improve drainage and provide for extensive
concrete foundations, and planted trees atop earthen berms, screening the
property from neighbors.
Skippack Township sewer managers want to know when their
system will be called on to replace Graterford's antiquated water-treatment
works, which has been cited for needed improvements by state environmental
officers.
Phoenix is designed to hold nearly 4,000 inmates, a few
hundred more than Graterford, which is expected to be decommissioned once
Phoenix is fully operating, though the state could continue to use the older
site for a time.
State Corrections Commissioner John Wetzel told me last
year he inherited plans for Phoenix from the Rendell administration after Gov.
Tom Corbett named him to the post, which he has retained under Gov. Wolf.
Wetzel said he was initially skeptical of the need for
Phoenix. Nearly 50,000 Pennsylvanians are now incarcerated in the state system,
down slightly from nearly 52,000 at its peak in 2012, amid a nationwide trend
to incarcerate fewer people.
But Wetzel said he came to support the project after
advocates convinced him the more efficient new facility would save taxpayers
millions, costing $70 an inmate a day to operate, down from about $100 at
Graterford, and potentially freeing resources for staff and programs.
Phoenix is the second-most-expensive building complex
built by the state, after the Convention Center in Philadelphia.
Source: Philly.com
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