why is construction at Elm and Chester streets taking so long?

[ron_newman]

Does anyone know why it is taking so long to repair the exterior of the building at Elm and Chester streets? The scaffolding has been up since last November, causing the MBTA to move the bus stop down to in front of Anna's Tacqueria. The Dunkin Donuts is probably losing some business from people who can't tell whether it's actually open, or who just prefer not to walk under a whole city block of scaffolding.

Comments

[achinhibitor.livejournal.com]

I've noticed that a lot of construction projects proceed fitfully. I don't know much about the business, but I've been told that some of it has to do with the slowness of getting insurance companies to approve the needed work. I'd also guess that renovation and fix-up work is intrinsically more complicated but doesn't involve huge amounts of money, so it's not particularly attractive for a construction company.

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

I noted that Gourmet Express in Porter has been closed but not yet demolished. Or had much of anything visible happen.

I have no idea how long it takes to fix a fallen facade, a la Zoe's & Mixtura, but I didn't think it would take nearly that long.

Or two months to renovate an escalator in the Porter Square station. (Which then wasn't working again Saturday.) Or a year for the elevator, though a deep underground elevator seems more likely to be problematic.

[ron_newman]

Gourmet Express was finally demolished within the past few days.

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

So I noticed! But thanks.

construction?

[mattdm.livejournal.com]

Is there any sign of any construction at all? I assumed that they just did the minimum necessary to reduce the risk of pedestrian death, and that it's now sitting in that state until someone comes up with some actual money to repair.

RE: construction?

[teko.livejournal.com]

To my knowledge, no actual construction work has been done whatsoever. My assumption was that whoever actually ended up moving into that space -- a gym, grocery store, etc -- would take responsibility for that construction work as part of the rehab. Beer Works had planned to do so, but, well, here we are with scaffolding.

RE: construction?

[smacaski.livejournal.com]

That kind of work is still usually the responsibility of the landlord, not any tenants (and considering the facade extends both over the vacant space and the Dunkins, it doesn't make sense to just have the new tenant pay for it). That said, the landlord may wait until the interior fit-out of the tenant space begins, just to do all the construction at once--it probably saves on permitting time and fees, as well as paying for police if they're needed for a construction detail.