Corrosion and deterioration are major issues that have faced Moser Tower since 2015.
“Basically this is a roughly 15 year old structure [and] it looks quite a bit older than 15 years old. That kind of threw up some red flags, so we started looking at it closer and that’s really where all the in-depth analysis came from,” said Bill Novack, the city’s director of transportation, engineering, and development.
Engineering Resource Associates released a new report listing four possible ways to tackle the tower repairs. But the good news is it should cost significantly less than originally estimated.
“The costs that we had initially when we looked at it back in 2015 and 2016 were in the $3 million range,” said Novack. “About $3 million to repair all the elements and up to $3.7 million if we even wanted to close the structure. Right now if we go and do all of the repairs, we do them in one or two phases about a $2 million project. And if we enclose the structure it’s about a $2.7 million project.”
Another option would be to tackle the cracking concrete, corroded structural steel, and water leaks specifically at the tower’s base plaza, in one large phase for $1.3 million.
To take on those same repairs in three phases would cost $1.5 million.
“The roughly $2 million – that includes about 30 years of inspections and maintenance,” said Novack. “We need to inspect it about every three years. We need to do a little maintenance on there. So there’s about $550,000 included in that $2 million figure for inspections for the next 30 years.”
But the cheapest option is to decommission it entirely.
“Basically if we wanted to keep it in serviceable condition for a while but not do any long term repairs and after a period of time take it down,” he added. “So we’d have to inspect it, we’d have to do little repairs on it, but nothing that would give it additional life. So and that’s $660,000 to basically take the structure down.”
The Riverwalk’s Planning, Design, and Construction Committee will bring a recommendation for the next steps to take with Moser Tower at the commission’s April 2 meeting.
Naperville News 17’s Christine Lena reports.
