Crawford, McConaughy Upgrades OK’d

An architecturally historic New Haven apartment tower is getting a $1.47 million upgrade, while another public-housing complex across town, built in 1948 for returning World War II veterans, is in line for a nearly $1 million replacement of its ancient clay sewer lines.

Those two major capital investments — $1.466 million for the 1966 Paul Rudolph-designed 15-story Brutalist George W. Crawford House and for Crawford Manor at 90 Park St. and $908,450 for McConaughy Terrace on Valley Street at East Ramsdell — were unanimously approved Tuesday afternoon by the Board of Commissioners of the Housing Authority of New Haven/Elm City Communitities (HANH/ECC).

“These are hugely important in our portfolio,” said HANH Executive Director Karen DuBois-Walton said of the two developments..

The work at Crawford Manor and McConaughy Terrace is part of a broader systemic upgrade of developments made possible through an increase in capital-improvement dollars from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The annual allotment rose from $3 million in 2018 to $5 million in 2019, and is $4 million in 2020, according to HANH.

Hannah Sokal-Holmes, HANH’s vice-president for planning and modernization, said that over the past decade, McConaughy’s flat roofs — some of which had begun to grow trees! — have been replaced by roofs that shed water. Hot water heaters and furnaces have all been replaced in the 201-family development. That work was done piecemeal.

Now, in 2020, the increased HUD dollars will enable HANH to do broader work all at once.

At McConaughy Terrace, that will meaning uprading the sanitary sewer system upgrade through a universal replacement of the 1940s clay pipes with PVC.

“We’re keeping [the complex] intact. These are not tear-downs,” said DuBois-Walton.

At Crawford, HANH plans to replace the fire-alarm system and the fire pump. It also plans to modify the entrance vestibule to make it compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The six-figure price tag on each project caught the attention of Commissioner Elmer Rivera after HANH/ECC architect Frank Emery presented the proposal and the winning bid from North Haven-based Banton Construction Company.

Banton was the lowest bidder, at 2 percent above the suggested estimate, Emery said. The other two respondents to HANH’s Request For Proposal came in at 7 and 9 percent above.

“You say it was awarded to the lowest bidder,” Rivera challenged Emery, ​“but what measures do we take to assure the change orders don’t exceed the original?”

“It’s not a guaranteed max,” Emery conceded in his reply, acknowledging that unanticipated costs could emerge in supplemental bills. ​“I’m an architect and it’s virtually impossible to do this without change orders.” The project at Crawford, for example, is huge, with fire alarm and other upgrades required in each of the apartments, he noted.

“I know that,” said Rivera. Still he wanted more information before he voted.

He got the information from Sokal-Holmes.

“We often have a unit price fixed by contract,” she said. ​“For example, $10,000 for asbestos or mold removal” from each unit, she said, but ​“there are unknowns. We control the cost on the unit price up front, but with renovations there are always unknowns and additional costs.”

“When the bids are in a good cluster,” as they were in the case of Crawford Manor, Emery added, ​“it probably means they’re accurate.”

In the end Rivera voted to approve the Crawford Manor and McConaughy expenditures, as well as other items, including several change orders on the meeting’s agenda.

After the gathering he said he intends to study the issue further. ​“I need to have a better understanding,” he said.

Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the board vote to approve spending $1.17 million to purchase and improve a vacant six-acre nursing home property at 34 Level St. as part of the rebuilding of the Westville Manor development. DuBois-Walton called the project ​“an exciting opportunity” to build new affordable housing from the ground up within an existing community. Click here to read a previous story about this project.