THUNDER BAY - Two city-owned buildings that are between 60 and 100 years old will continue to undergo maintenance this summer.
Fort William Gardens and the Whalen Building are both slated for extensive maintenance projects expected to start in June.
According to Kelvin Jankowski, contract coordinator, asset management with construction services at the city of Thunder Bay, two support structures at Fort William Gardens and the north side of the Whalen Building will be repaired.
In a 2007 structural review of the Fort William Gardens, the city identified a number of issues that needed to be addressed.
“Generally minor maintenance of the structure,” Jankowski said. “As assets age, they need more maintenance so we are just following through with a number of those things.”
A 2013 follow-up report showed additional work was still needed on support structures, or haunches. The 66-year-old arena has 20 concrete haunches, which are the main supports for the building.
“This will be a multi-year project where every year we will do two to three haunches, repair them, and abate them as we go until it’s completed,” Jankowski said.
The city has budged between $60,000 and $70,000 for the repairs, which involves removing asbestos containing materials and lead paint, removing any loose concrete, cleaning the rebar, and repairing the concrete.
“It’s something we identified that needs to be done,” Jankowski said. “It’s has to do with any asset that becomes aging. We oversee over 100 buildings in the city and as long as this building is open to the public it needs to be safe, healthy, and accessible.”
On the city’s north side, the Whalen Building will also see the final phase of an extensive maintenance project be completed this summer.
As part of a four phase project that saw the exterior parapet rebuilt on the three sides of the 104-year-old building, work on the north side will begin in June.
“The previous three sides were done over the previous three years and this is the final side,” Jankowski said. “There will be some additional work on the elevator shaft and the stairwell next year, but this is the bulk of the major work that requires scaffolding on the exterior of the building.”
The cost of repairing the exterior terra cotta and parapet is between $600,000 and $700,000 for each side of the building. Jankowski said working on the north side of the building presents some additional challenges.
“This side here we have to deal with elevator areas and a stairwell and the setup of the scaffolding is more difficult because there is a loading dock there,” he said.
The work on the Whalen Building is expected to be completed by September, while repairs to the haunches at Fort William Gardens can take between two or three months.
