First on repair list: lighting up Phoenix Center

7 months left to bring complex up to code

It’s going to cost $20.7 million to completely repair the Pontiac Phoenix Center parking garage and amphitheater.

That’s according to new cost estimates from Auch Construction and Integrated Design Solutions, hired by the city to oversee and design the renovations. Pontiac released new interior photos this week showing some of the damage and stripped materials throughout the center.

There’s about seven months left on the city’s deadline to bring the Phoenix Center back up to code under its settlement agreement with the owners of Ottawa Towers. Those repairs, labeled critical and necessary on the city’s schematic cost estimate, total $16.6 million.

Pontiac City Council recently allocated $7 million out of its general surplus to begin paying for the repairs.

Kermit Williams, city council president, said the city will look to fix the electrical, elevators and then structural repairs, in that order. Requests for proposals to complete the electrical work are expected to come before the council on May 19.

“We need to get the electrical done, this needs to happen as soon as possible,” Williams said. “If we can get the center lit, Ottawa Towers will be able to lease out parking spaces. We can definitely do that with $7 million.”

The city is still considering payment options. Private-public partnerships have been floated, though none have officially been considered by city council. The mayor’s office has suggested using capital improvement bonds, but most members of the council have so far opposed using bonds to pay for the center’s repairs.

“We know (the owners of Ottawa Towers) are following everything that happens. We tend to hear from them after meetings we talk about this advising us that they’re concerned, especially about the lack of progress,” Deirdre Waterman, mayor of Pontiac, said. “It’s no question that we are also concerned. We’re behind, and every day, we are considerably more behind.”

Waterman has previously stated that if the repairs aren’t complete by the November deadline, the city would risk being in default of its settlement agreement. While some members of council have stated that they believe the deadline is achievable, others have questioned the validity of the settlement agreement as whole.

Pontiac’s timeline projects that funding would need to be in place by June in order for construction work to begin in July.