CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Construction on the West Virginia Public Service Commission building is scheduled to be slightly under budget when its complete later this month, according to PSC Chairman Mike Albert.
Albert told members of the House Finance Committee Friday the project will cost less than they thought it would. The price tag of the project was originally set at $4.5 million.
“It will be at slightly under $4.5 million we’re pleased to say,” Albert said. “We saved a lot of money by staying in the building while they ripped the whole exterior off of it.”
Work on the building, which serves as the PSC’s headquarters on the corner of Quarrier and Brooks streets, began in Feb. 2016. The project called for the removal of the brick and the re-installation using brick ties, but the completion date was set back several times after crews found additional construction flaws last year.
More than 200 PSC employees have remained in the building during construction.
“I’ve applauded our employees from time to time for putting up with a lot of noise and dirt, but it did save a lot of money not moving out and continuing operations there,” Albert said.
A lot of improvements have been made over the last few months, Albert said.
“All the brick was removed from it,” he said. “It was not something we did for the beauty or just for the sheer joy of changing it. We were in a desperate situation.”
The entire building is encased in a system of scaffolding. One lane of the side streets surrounding the building remains closed to traffic.and one lane of the side streets surrounding the structure along Charleston’s Quarrier Street are closed to traffic.