Building supply chain interruptions to delay finish of new Cape City Hall

The City of Cape Girardeau has announced the $12.5 million City Hall project at 44 N. Lorimier St., scheduled for substantial completion Oct. 1, now has been delayed with no new finish date set.

“The delay in building materials experienced by so many people building a new home or working on home improvements has finally caught up with the City Hall project,” according to a news release issued Tuesday, which praised the efforts of the design-build contractor, Penzel Construction Co.

Municipal officials say the interruption in work is limited to the new addition connecting the former Common Pleas Courthouse and the old Carnegie Library building.

Penzel told the Southeast Missourian a new completion date is dependent upon delivery of certain materials, with the supplier unwilling to commit to a timeline because the industry is volatile.

“The big issue right now is (getting) the roofing installation,” said Phil Penzel, the company’s CEO. “We have no end date for receiving this material. Nobody will commit to anything. It’s very open-ended at this point and that’s very unusual. I absolutely do not like it, but what can I do about it?”

“Unfortunately, the roof holds up everything because we can’t put in the electrical or the HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) or really even the drywall until the roof is on,” said Anna Kangas, City Hall project manager.

Delay rationale

St. Louis-based Roofing Mart, in a May 13 letter attached to the city’s news release, explained the problem from its perspective.

“Over the course of the last three months, (Firestone Building Materials) has had to extend the lead-times for its (commercial roofing) products up to 60 to 90 days. As they entered the late winter/early spring months, a time when they usually see a downturn in demand for their products due to weather conditions around the country, they traditionally replenish their inventory on polyiso, fasteners, adhesives, etc. However, this strategy did not work for them this year as it usually does. The raw material needed to produce many of these items is a chemical called methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI). The deep freeze in Texas and impact of Hurricanes Laura and Delta on the U.S. Gulf has led to a tight supply of some MDI intermediate chemicals. Due to the closure of railways and waterways, logistics were also interrupted, which also led to restrictions on the supply of intermediate chemicals to the isocyanate plants. The construction industry rebound from COVID had also made demand for these products at higher-than-normal levels throughout the country. Due to these higher levels of demand and the inability to get consistent levels of raw materials, they did not have the time to stockpile the inventory as they usually do. Therefore, they are now moving into the spring/summer months and are still working to fill orders from production and not from inventory,” wrote Kris Schriefer, Roofers Mart St. Louis sales manager.

Mayoral perspective

Cape Girardeau Mayor Bob Fox, while acknowledging work is proceeding without interruption in the two existing buildings, indicated it is hard to overestimate the importance of the new addition, which connects the old courthouse, constructed in 1854, with the former library, built in 1922.

“The main entrance to (the new) City Hall is the addition,” Fox said, adding the addition will contain the main reception area, City Council chambers, several conference rooms, the offices of the development services manager and city engineer, and an elevator.

Work on the new addition (seen in green) to the new Cape Girardeau City Hall project has been interrupted because of delays in the arrival of building materials. Construction continues on the former courthouse and old Carnegie Library in the meantime, as seen in this May 25 photo.Sarah Yenesel

Immediate outlook

The municipality will continue to use city-owned 401 Independence St., the former Old Lorimier School, for its offices until the project is done.

The city has used the building, built in 1937, since 1978.

“It’s not as if we’re under a deadline to sell or lease the current City Hall, so I guess we’re kind of blessed in that regard,” Kangas said.

“We have been extremely lucky up to this point (and) I’m amazed we were able to avoid this discussion this long considering the circumstances of our industry,” Penzel said. “For most of our projects we were able to procure materials on the early side of things.”

Penzel said if the supply interruption continues, some tough decisions may be ahead.

“There is a real possibility we may have to shut the whole (City Hall) project down if we can’t get materials,” he said, adding he hopes the company can avoid layoffs if work is significantly delayed.

“We will do everything we can possibly do in the meantime (and) we are going to continue with the masonry, do what we can, and hope things improve, but there are a lot of factors affecting the supply chain,” Penzel said.

Last word

Fox said the city is determined not to cut corners on a City Hall project, expected to last well into the foreseeable future.

“You’ve got a specific material that you want to use and that limits your options,” said Fox, Cape Girardeau’s mayor since 2018.

“We’re not willing to change the specs on this and do something that is inferior in quality, so we just have to wait,” he said.