Major Restoration Project on The Square, and It's a Gamble

One of the largest restoration projects is occurring right now on the Square.  No, unfortunately, it's not an investment in the abandon circa-1910 City Hall building in the Truman NHLD.  It’s Ken McClain’s brand-new Market Square Townhouses that were designed by architect Jim Gamble who was also the Project and Construction Manager.  Keep in mind Gamble had oversight of every aspect of this project.  It appears now that the entire facades on the buildings are failing before the units have even been sold.  Maybe it is good that the units have not sold after a year of marketing them.  Empty units are much easier to fix.  In spite of the fact that public assistance has gone into the project, there have been no public statements explaining the problems.  We still get the “Real People – Real Progress” spin and accolades for the development on social media.  It appears at street level that the culprit is excessive moisture intrusion after witnessing the darkened wood sheathing boards behind the building wrap.  These types of problems, if they occur, usually appear after 5 to 10 years of building occupation.  To have them occur this soon and even prior to occupation at least hints that this is very serious.  The project was plagued from the very beginning by excluding public hearings and stakeholder participation, environmental assessments typical of urban sites absent, suggestions for archaeological investigations deemed unnecessary burdens, and the mystery of missing local and state permits.  Demolition debris from the site that dated to Urban Renewal land clearance was dumped in a ravine in eastern Jackson County.  The building site had an abundance of ground water at times resulting in utility crews playing multiple scenes of the Keystone Kops.  Construction quality control issues were visible from the street with other less-visual incidences posted on social media by disgruntled workers, whatever that is worth.  All of this combined with City Hall taking a “hands off” approach, common with politically connected developers, resulted in a finished product that has already required substantial renovation.  And the question that city leaders refuse to answer, did McClain fulfill his obligation to meet schedules and receive tax credits, a prerequisite for the receiving free land with no public hearing?  We wish the McClain’s good luck in remediating the issues and hope that continued problems do not exist (as in the previous blog post).  If problems do continue, we can always follow the current trend: turn it into low-income senior housing.  And yes, with Architect Jim, what can we say?   I’m not going to take the bait with a witty pun.  Use your own imagination this time!