Removing asbestos as part of the renovation of Soldier Field is now expected to cost $14.5 million, $10 million more than originally anticipated, authorities said (this sentence as published has been corrected in this text).
The additional expense will eat up one-third of $30 million in contingency funds before the foundation has been laid for the refurbished stadium, raising questions about whether the project will exceed its projected $606 million cost.
Project officials maintained the contingency funds were created to address such unexpected costs and that the project is on budget and slightly ahead of schedule.
“Obviously we would like the cost to be lower,” said project spokesman Barnaby Dinges, of the asbestos removal.
“That’s essentially why we have contingency funds. This is a significant situation that we are cleaning up.”
Just two weeks ago, project officials estimated asbestos removal would cost $10 million. Dinges said ongoing tests at the stadium revealed more asbestos-laden material.
The project is financed through $406 million in tax-supported bonds and $200 million from private sources, including the Bears and revenue generated by personal seat licenses at the refurbished stadium.
The cost of cleaning up the asbestos was raised at a raucous Friday meeting of an advisory board for the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, at which several state legislators bitterly complained that minorities and women weren’t getting enough work on the Soldier Field project.
They complained that minority and women-owned firms were hired for 20 percent of the asbestos removal work, falling short of guidelines established by the city that require minority contractors to receive at least 25 percent of work on a project and women-owned firms, 5 percent.
“The whole thing is making me sick,” said state Rep. Lovana Jones (D-Chicago), addressing the project’s contractors.
“Everyone knows what you’re doing. You don’t want to be fair.”
But figures released to the Tribune show the overall project is meeting the minority-contractor goals in contracts awarded so far.
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Officials from the Bears and its project oversight team — Turner Construction, Barton/Mallow and Kenny Construction–said they were working toward improving minority and women participation on the project, but they refused to commit to setting aside specific work for women and minorities.
They are scheduled to meet with Chicago Park District officials next week to discuss the progress on hiring more minority- and women-owned firms.
“There is a lot of dissatisfaction with how this project is running,” said Peter Cunningham, a consultant hired by the park district, which will own and operate the renovated Soldier Field. “That will change.”
Park district officials announced in January that asbestos, believed to be from pipe insulation, had been found under the stands in Soldier Field, which was built in 1924.
The company hired for much of the demolition, Brandenburg Industrial Services, was expected to remove 1 million cubic yards of material, instead of the 25,000 cubic yards originally estimated.
The asbestos removal is not expected to delay the September 2003 reopening of the stadium.