While Beiler told the Hamilton Community Authority soon after the March 26 collapse he did not expect significant issues with the schedule, he said Wednesday he had not anticipated it taking so long for the insurance company to finish its work. Building 500 is located at the far south end of the project west of B Street, so it’s not within the tangle of other buildings.
But still, he said, because the facility is interconnected, Building 500 is affecting construction of other parts of the facility.
“If it’s released to us shortly, then I don’t believe a delay will be noticed,” he said.
The project otherwise is moving along well, he said. For example, Building 300, a mammoth structure that will house many hardwood courts, is 80 percent under roof, with all the materials on site to finish it, a lot of work can continue there. There were some delays there because of a need for the insulation, which now is present. And with the roof in place, sprinkler systems and electrical conduit are being hung, with concrete work moving forward.
“So far, the progress, they’ve done a great job,” he said about the construction.
On the Mill 2 building, the one between B Street and the Great Miami River where there will be a 233-room hotel, 85 percent of the hotel rooms have been framed, and 75 percent have been drywalled.
He noted delays can be made up by adding second shifts of construction workers.
“From March to June, the building remains as it stands,” Beiler told the community authority this week. “We finally received some communication from the insurance company the end of last week. At this point, we’ve lost about 90 days (on that building) with no progress. They continue to study the collapse to try to understand what caused it, or what allowed it.”
“We’re hopeful that within a week or 10 days we can begin the process of disassembly,” he said. “It’s not as easy as demo, where you knock things flatter and move them off. There’s a required process of disassembling the building because of the tension that’s on various pieces of steel that were not designed to be in the position they’re in now.”
The building’s demolition will take weeks, and it will take 6-7 weeks for new steel to be delivered, with reconstruction of the building taking 30-45 days, he said.
“At that point, we did not expect any delays on Mill One (the part located West of B Street),” Beiler said. “But 90 days later, it is creating a problem for us on Mill 1 in terms of schedule.”
Beiler said he still believes the delay mainly will affect Building 500, “but because utilities and everything are integrated, at some point, that creates a broader challenge to coordinate,” he said.
The facility will include a convention/meeting center with 125,000 square feet of space for meetings and exhibitions. It also will have a ballroom that officials loosely call “the wedding room,” but that they expect will host many events other than weddings.
Spooky Nook already has been creating economic development in and around the city, with entrepreneurs looking forward to weekends when 10,000 or more athletes and their families travel to Hamilton four sports tournaments and other events from three-hour-drives or farther. Spooky Nook recently announced its first booking of an event, a Model T Tour in July of 2022.
The project routinely has been listed as costing $144 million, but other investments by the city for parking and other expenses bring the total to $165 million.
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