City still navigating Depot restoration project

Shawnee City Manager Andrea Weckmueller-Behringer recently offered Shawnee City Commissioners another update on the Santa Fe Depot project.

She reminded commissioners that the city retained GH2 for an existing-conditions report and bidding documents, in a total contract for $34,720.

Moving forward with figuring out a cost for the rehab is still too uncertain.

“It all depends,” she said. “It depends on materials that have been used in the original construction, the level of craftsmanship and detail involved in the original building, and whether there are materials used, have been used or will be used again for restoration purposes that have been handcrafted beyond what is currently out on the market.”

All of those components play a role, she said, adding the condition of the overall structure and the level of deterioration also play a significant role, so there is no true number for what it will cost, she said, adding the bulk of the cost sits in labor, rather than materials.

“We'll have to take it one step at a time,” she said.

Weckmueller-Behringer said just because the site is on the historic places list doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be extremely expensive.

The guiding documents specify the characteristic components must be kept in tact. If they can't be restored they can be replaced with like (similar) elements, she said.

Background

Action is needed soon for the historic site as rain water continues to damage the building.

The Pottawatomie County Historical Society Museum board's president, Mark Schneiter said two years ago there was a roof estimate of $180,000.

In December, Weckmeuller-Behringer said the latest minimum estimate to make the building water-tight is expected at $600,000. And that isn't a total project price — there's more that needs to be added in, like interior restoration, paver repair, asbestos and lead testing and abatement, hiring a construction management firm, and any contingencies that may arise. Paver repair is estimated at $141,000 and interior restoration is expected at $608,000.

More: Ongoing water damage to Shawnee's Santa Fe Depot is making planned repair project urgent

Weckmeuller-Behringer said that would bring the current estimate closer to the neighborhood of just less than $1.4 million, based on GH2's estimate.

“As you know the pandemic has really, really taxed our supply chain, so there may be some further cost increases,” she said.

In her research of 24 Santa Fe Depots across the nation, as well as three other rail depots, Weckmeuller-Behringer said she discovered renovations at those sites varied from $20,000 to $15 million — generating an average of $1.9 million.

“I think that is a much closer realistic number ($1.9 million) than the $1.4 million,” she said.

As part of the city's half-cent sales tax increase in 2018 for several capital improvement projects, funding was allocated for the Santa Fe Depot roof and remodel — $400,000. Some of that money was already used for the GH2 study.

“It falls woefully short of what that building truly needs,” Weckmeuller-Behringer said.

“We really need to find some additional grant funding; we need to find other sources,” she said. “In order to save the building — even just doing the outer envelope would already cost us over $600,000, which is why we have not been able to move on that.”

The depot is a historic building, so there is a certain way it must be restored, she said.

Weckmueller-Behringer said just adding new roof tiles won't do any good; the entire building must be fixed.

She said no major updates or improvements have been made at the site since 1987, aside from sidewalks and the brick paver street.

GH2's assessment reports the extent of visible water damage, broken roof tiles, repairs that are not in line with historic character of the building (as required by the Historic Building Registry), issues with the rich caps, flashing that does not go up high enough, open masonry joints, and other things. Many of the issues are direct causes for the water infiltration problems, which are more visible on the interior of the building.

Weckmeuller-Behringer said there needs to be a discussion about the community's vision for the national landmark.

Determining what function and capacity the depot will have would aid in scrapping/securing some of those funding options.

In many of the cases she studied, Weckmeuller-Behringer said the sites had more than one function.

What would benefit the residents, Main Street and downtown businesses, and property owners, she asked.

“These questions should be brought to their respective constituents,” she said. “That is not something that we, alone, at the city can answer.”

She said engagement with the stakeholders for a much more in-depth discussion is needed.

“Vision is something we will definitely have to tackle for the Santa Fe Depot — in light of the heavy lift that would be required for repair and rehabilitation,” she said.

Funding sources

She said the largest funding mechanism for repair and rehabilitation projects at those depots came from federal grants, generally routed through each state's DOT program.

Some funding options, such as through the Federal Transit Administration, offers funds for infrastructure and facility upgrades.

“However, the funding can only be used if there is a direct nexus to transit or rail passenger use of the infrastructure,” Weckmeuller-Behringer said.

More: Depot project will cost more than planned

In several cases, some state funding was used as a match to federal funding or as a supplement to local funding.

“(And it was) dependent on the use or function of the depot,” she said. “Dependent on the grant application, that state money can either have a transportation focus as a historical transportation building or it can have a historic preservation focus.”

And, of course, city and community fundraising efforts were implemented.

Keep or not?

Once funding is figured out, some plans might need to be looked at again.

One concern, brought up by Ward 2 Shawnee City Commissioner Cami Engles, was the reuse of 70% of the existing roof tiles.

“Clay tiles have a lifespan of 75 years,” she said in December. “It's a difficult process to maintain their structural integrity.”

It's very difficult to remove the tiles and then replace them without breaking them, she said.

“It's almost as expensive labor-wise to take those off and put them back on than to just buy new clay tiles,” Engles said.

Ward 3 Shawnee City Commissioner Travis Flood asked if it wouldn't be a better idea to just go ahead and replace all the tiles, given the the fact the current ones are well beyond their intended lifespan.

“It might get us another 70 years, as opposed to the first big hail storm or wind storm, we're right back in the same shape,” he said.

Noting that replacing all the tiles would be a wise consideration, but it would add greatly to the price tag, Weckmeuller-Behringer said.

More: Depot asked to hold tight on roof project; action coming

Adding another perspective, Ward 5 Shawnee City Commissioner Mark Sehorn brought up whether a $2 million rehabilitation was worthwhile.

“You know, on our end, we need to get the envelope of the building in the drive and then figure out what we're going to do,” he said. “The longer it sits there, the more it's going to cost us longterm to fix it.”

He said he believes some of the community would get on board with the plan, but the price tag is high.

“At some point, you know, do you keep throwing money at it or is money better spent somewhere else?” he asked. “It is a benefit.”

He said the thing that bothers him more than anything is spending $2 million on it.

“We want to preserve it, no doubt,” Sehorn said. “But is that the smartest thing to do? Is $2 million more well spent to develop an exit off Interstate 40 or something that has a huge tax base?”

He said, “You know, we're looking at revenue versus what that's going to produce. Yeah, sure, it would be nice to have in a perfect world, but is that the correct way to spend $2 million?”

For story ideas, questions or concerns, reporter Vicky O. Misa can be reached at vicky.misa@news-star.com.

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This article originally appeared on The Shawnee News-Star: Shawnee still navigating Santa Fe Depot restoration project