BY JANICE MORSE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HAMILTON -- For months to come, construction supplies and equipment will rule the corner of High Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. But by this time next year, officials expect the $35 million Government Services Center (GSC), a 12-story multiagency complex, to emerge as a showpiece that will serve citizens, draw more business downtown and boost the city's clout.
"This is the first downtown project of this magnitude in over a generation," said Dan Evers, Hamilton's director of development. "It will affect downtown revitalization for years to come." The GSC could be the state's first structure to house city, county and state services in one place, said Bill Davin, project manager for the developer, Corporex Development Services Inc. of Cincinnati. Now, as the center starts to take shape, a controversy surrounding the demolition of a neighboring boarding house -- and displacement of its 16 low-income men -- is being resolved.
Tuesday was to have been the deadline for the men to move out of 340 Maple Ave., a run-down, three-story brick building that is being replaced by a 700-space parking garage.
But the deadline is being extended until all the men are relocated -- and the men are getting some help with that, said Butler County Administrator Derek Conklin.
The men feared they would be forced to live on the streets, because most housing is costlier than the $200 monthly rent -- utilities included -- they had been paying. The men also said they couldn't afford deposits that many landlords require along with the first month's rent.
"We're not the big, bad government here," Mr. Conklin said. "We felt it was proper and appropriate to help them with their deposits."
Butler County commissioners authorized checks covering the deposits to be issued to the new landlords for seven of the men; applications from two others are pending, said Rhonda Freeze, office manager of the county Department of Human Services. But Ms. Freeze said she did not know the fate of the men who have not contacted her office. The last of the boarding residents probably will have moved out by Monday, Mr. Conklin said. Then crews will look for any environmental hazards, such as asbestos, and decide how to handle those before demolishing the structure.
Meanwhile, officials plan a flag-raising ceremony at the site Thursday, in line with a tradition among construction workers, said Bill Bennett, site manager for CPX Construction Inc. of Northern Kentucky.
"There are two times when you'll always see an American flag flying at a construction site," Mr. Bennett said. "One is on the Fourth of July. The other is when the guys have finished "topping out' -- meaning that all the steel is set."
The steel, which begins arriving Monday, should be set by Sept. 25, Mr. Bennett said.
Construction began in January and is expected to be finished by July 1999.
Work on an adjacent eight-story privately owned tower, which will house business offices, retail businesses, a restaurant and a bank, will start this summer. Completion is set for fall 1999. The GSC project could have taken until mid-2000 -- and cost at least $1 million extra -- if it weren't for a new "fast-track" construction approach, which involves designing parts of the structure while others are being built, said Mr. Evers.
"In government projects, traditionally 100 percent of design -- every square foot and every system in the building -- would have to be completed before word one was said about breaking the ground, ordering the steel, letting the contracts," Mr. Evers said.
"We're doing it as necessary and when necessary -- and we're betting this thing is going to be done on time, on schedule and at a guaranteed cost not to exceed $35 million."
