GSA reducing maintenance on nearly empty federal building

The General Services Administration is cutting back on routine maintenance of the old federal building at 339 Broadway in Cape Girardeau while its future is in limbo but has no plans to mothball the building, GSA spokesman Charlie Cook said Tuesday.

Only one federal agency, the local FBI office, is still housed in the building. The agents assigned to the building will move to new quarters within a few months, Cook said. But even after the building is completely empty, mechanical systems and other important features will be looked after, although at a reduced level, he said.

"Our intentions at this point in time are to keep it maintained but to do it in the least expensive way possible," Cook said.

The Rev. Larry Rice and the New Life Evangelistic Center have been pursuing the building for use as emergency and long-term transitional housing for the homeless since it was declared surplus in early 2009. Rice's application has been rejected twice by the Department of Health and Human Services. On Monday, Rice announced that he is taking the agency to court for the second time to challenge the decision.

Cape Girardeau County also wants the building to replace the 150-plus-year-old Common Pleas Courthouse and courthouse annex on Lorimier Street. But while Rice and New Life have a pending court case, the county is forced to wait.

The attorney for New Life, Andrew Adair of Washington, D.C., said Monday that the court case is likely to push a final disposition of the building to early 2011 or later.

Because the building is nearly empty and will be completely without tenants soon, there is no need for full time janitorial staff, Cook said. A contract has been awarded for exterior maintenance including landscaping, and that contract "essentially sets out the minimal work needed so the building would be usable again," he said.

County Commissioner Paul Koeper, an engineer who spent 29 years with Penzel Construction Co., said he worries that the building will be allowed to deteriorate, which could add thousands of dollars to the renovation costs the county already anticipates if it obtains the building.

"It is definitely a worry and should be to anybody," Koeper said. "Anybody who deals with houses or apartments or buildings like this knows that the longer they sit, the more they deteriorate. It bothers me to no end."

After an ice storm in December, Koeper said, exterior damage was noted and brought to the GSA's attention. The lack of use means fewer people see the building every day and, although the damage was repaired, those kinds of problems have a better chance of being unnoticed and allowing more serious damage, he said.

"It bothers me that we had to bring it to their attention," Koeper said.

The building is inspected regularly by a supervisor from the new Rush H. Limbaugh Sr. U.S. Courthouse on Independence Street, Cook said.

Mothballing the building would involve draining all the water pipes and shutting down mechanical systems such as heating and cooling, Cook said. That step is only taken as a last resort, he added.

"We are maintaining the building to the most efficient way we possibly can at this point in time to reduce the cost of operations and maintenance contracts," Cook said. "If at some point it needs to be brought back to life, it can be in short order."

rkeller@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

339 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, MO 555 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, MO