Clever bookkeeping by BPCA understates cost overruns of Pier A

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Update December 18, 2012

At the last BPCA update on Pier A, the construction was supposed to be completed by the end of the year, then turned over to the Poulakakos family for the construction of the restaurant. That timeline will be missed, and Pier A is behind schedule once again. Hurricane Sandy flooding is a legitimate reason for those delays.

June 22, 2012 By Steven Greer

BatteryPark.TV first reported after the BPCA “town hall” meeting that the authority was understating the cost overruns of Pier A by not listing the expenses for the surrounding plaza work and that the $36.5 Million estimated cost would go higher. At the June 19th BPCA board meeting, this was confirmed (see 2:40 mark of the video). The authority is now requesting to spend at least an additional $490,000 to include the plaza work. A $245,000 figure is mentioned by BPCA’s Gwen Dawson, but that is for only 50% of the plaza work.

In addition, other new costs listed during the meeting included $380,000 for work to replace the roof of Pier A and $647,000 for additional “supervisors” needed to “expedite” the project to completion by December 31st of 2012. The LiRo company is the construction supervisor.

Since the Pier project is already years behind schedule, it is unclear why wage bonuses are being award to LiRo. Addressing that, board member Donald Capoccia asked CEO Gayle Horwitz to request LiRo agree to work for free if the project extends beyond December 31st.

Of note, the entire discussion of the details of Pier A cost overruns would have been kept secret by evoking an “executive meeting” closed to reporters, but Ms. Horwitz chose to make the discussion public. While one cannot read her mind, if she is expecting to be replaced when the new BPCA Chairman arrives, perhaps she wanted to state for the record what her tenure accomplished and at what cost so as to prevent the future CEO from blaming her administration for delays and cost overruns.

Is the December 31st completion date for the shell of Pier A reasonable? Has the current cost of Pier A been understated? A planned audit of the construction projects managed by the BPCA is planned. Stay tuned.