City Hall rehab costs nearly double

The cost of City Hall’s renovation has soared to $119 million, or nearly twice the original budget for the project. According to DNAinfo, workers installing sprinklers in the building have uncovered new and “alarming” water damage to the ceilings, among other needed fixes, sending costs through the building’s decaying roof. That roof was, in fact, the original, 2009 impetus for a $65 million renovation plan, after a ten-foot section of the ceiling in a second-floor committee room collapsed. Workers have since been reinforcing, painting and re-plastering the roof of the Council Chamber and replacing the stars and rosettes that had sustained damage. The rehab is slated for completion in March 2012. As part of a privately-funded project, the city is also restoring the five large murals from inside the chamber’s ceiling. Meanwhile, workers have also accidentally unearthed several historical artifacts, including animal bones, a Revolutionary War-era bayonet and a hidden decorative window from 1805, and the city is planning a photo display of the finds. [DNAinfo]