She's buying a stairway to budget hell.
Gov. Kathy Hochul's administration quietly doubled the price tag to renovate the crumbling grand staircase to the state Capitol, raising the cost to a whopping $80 million, the Post reported.
Documents show renovation costs have soared from $17 million in 2014 to $41 million in 2022 and more than $80 million last fall, more than four times the project cost amid questions surrounding the opening date. has reached.
It's unclear where the additional funding will come from or whether it will be included in Hochul's future budget plans for Albany.
“Governor Hochul is committed to investing in the city of Albany and making the State Capitol a place that all New Yorkers can be proud of,” a spokesperson for Governor Hochul told the Post in a statement.
“The General Services Administration has begun a competitive procurement process to responsibly identify a contractor to perform much-needed renovations to the east approach to the Capitol,” a spokesperson said sadly. “By law, we are unable to comment further as the procurement process is ongoing.”
The 77-step staircase and promenade adjacent to the grand Romanesque entrance known as the East Approach of Parliament House has been closed since 2015. Due to poor drainage and serious structural issues, the stairs have continued to slide toward the Hudson River for almost the entirety of their existence.
A 2014 survey secretly commissioned by Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration found bulging walls and loose bricks that could be removed by hand inside the building, prompting emergency repairs. That study estimated repair costs at $17 million.
In Hochul's first budget after taking office, she and the Legislature set aside $41 million to fix this approach, but in typical Albany fashion, the project remains delayed.
The governor's administration suggested to the Times last year that it would open in spring 2028, but bid documents estimate renovations would take four years, casting doubt on that timeline.
Bidding for the $80 million contract ended in October, but only two companies submitted bids. — Louis C. Allegrone, Inc. and Consigli Construction.
Consigli Construction led extensive repairs to the Capitol's roof and the addition of skylights, which was completed in 2012. The company also has a contract to work on a $19 million project to improve the Egg Performing Arts Center at Empire State Plaza.
A spokesperson for the General Services Administration, which is managing the project, said a contract has not yet been signed.
“Governor Hochul is committed to opening the Eastern Approach to the public. We will be announcing the status of the project soon,” OGS spokesperson Joe Brill told the Post.
The project will include a hallway under the stairs, allowing Hochul, council president Carl Heastie and other senior officials to continue using the restricted VIP entrance portico during construction, according to project documents obtained by the newspaper. It's planned.
The spokesperson did not elaborate on why keeping the entrance open was a priority.
As part of his State of the State address last week, Hochul announced a proposal to pump a whopping $400 million into the capital's many dilapidated state buildings and institutions.
The Capitol Staircase was completed in 1897 as one of many additions to the building, which first opened 18 years earlier. Many politicians have used the perch as a stage over the years, including then-Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kennedy. I said it on the stairs This happened during his campaign for the White House in September 1960.
President Kennedy said, “I am in the position that three prominent governors have stood as presidential candidates: Theodore Roosevelt, Al Smith, and Franklin Roosevelt.''
Teddy Roosevelt is said to have run up the stairs as part of his morning exercise routine when he called home in Albany. Then-New York Governor Smith accepted the Democratic presidential nomination with this approach nearly 32 years before Kennedy gave his speech.
