A $300M makeover for crumbling N.J. Statehouse

TRENTON — An attic contains combustible materials, but the building lacks an automatic sprinkler system to protect against fire.

Water is seeping through roofs and exposed brick all over the place.

In one first-floor suite, a window is covered in plastic wrap that blows in the wind; elsewhere, duct tape keeps glass from falling out of the frames.

New Jersey, welcome to your state Capitol.

Built in 1792, the Trenton landmark is the second oldest statehouse in the country that has remained in continuous use, behind Maryland's.

And it looks like it.

Gov. Christie is pushing ahead with a $300 million renovation that he announced in November. "I will be the last governor who will operate in a firetrap," Christie told reporters Wednesday.

He said there had not been a comprehensive renovation of the executive portion of the building in 60 years. By contrast, the legislative wing was restored in the late 1980s and early '90s, and the golden dome was refurbished with the help of a fund-raising campaign by schoolchildren under Gov. Christie Whitman in 1999.

Christie says the end of his second term is the right time to tackle the big project; as an outgoing governor, he's not constrained by political considerations that might hamstring someone early in a term.

Some 2017 gubernatorial candidates, including Christie's No. 2, Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, have questioned whether the state can afford the latest project.

"We simply do not have the money to turn the Statehouse into the Palace of Versailles," Guadagno declared at her campaign launch last month.

Christie has brushed aside the criticism, saying safety and cost concerns compel immediate action.

"It's going to happen. Take it to the bank," Christie, a Republican, told reporters Jan. 31. He added, "The Statehouse is literally falling apart."

Initially, the state hired architects and engineers to eliminate water damage as part of a limited exterior project that would have cost about $38 million.

But once the professionals discovered the extent of the building's deterioration, they determined that minor fixes would be a waste of money, and recommended a complete overhaul of the executive wing.

Chimney mortar has disintegrated "to total loss," experts said. Skylights have corroded; hazardous materials abound; heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning units are antiquated and undersized. Parts of the historic building don't comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act.

The "entire exterior of the building requires extensive repairs and restoration to manage risk associated with both life safety — i.e. to avoid failures that can have life-safety implications, such as building pieces falling off —  as well as loss of valuable and irreplaceable historic building fabric," reads a report submitted to the state by the architecture firms Nelson and Preservation Design Partnership (PDP).

Before joining the firm in 2010, Philadelphia-based PDP's design director helped renovate historic buildings such as the U.S. Supreme Court and the Virginia Capitol. Members of the firm's partner on the New Jersey project, Nelson, also worked on Pennsylvania's state Capitol.

Emergency repairs are underway, and the 266 executive branch employees who work in the Statehouse are scheduled to move to a new location in July, after Christie signs a new budget. Delaying an overhaul would increase costs by up to $10 million a year, state Treasurer Ford M. Scudder told lawmakers Jan. 12.

Christie said the overhaul will be a four-year project linked to a broader economic redevelopment of New Jersey's capital, where the poverty rate is nearly triple the statewide average, according to census data.

"We should have reasons for people to want to work in Trenton, live in Trenton, come here," said State Sen. Joe Kyrillos (R., Monmouth). A renovated Statehouse, he said, would be an "obvious cornerstone of a Trenton renaissance."

In addition to state employees working in the building, schoolchildren and others regularly take tours.

Some critics of the plan, such as State Sen. Raymond J. Lesniak, a Union County Democrat who is running for governor, say the state should address safety hazards but leave a large-scale overhaul to another day, given New Jersey's tight budget.

However, the renovations are to be financed through borrowing by the state Economic Development Authority — not by revenues that would otherwise fund programs in the state budget, such as education. Legislative approval is not required.

The $300 million projection "represents the entire cost of the restoration, plus additional related work," including construction services, which the state has yet to procure through competitive bidding, Treasury spokesman Willem Rijksen said.

For context, the state budget is about $35 billion.

The estimate includes $20 million in upgrades for the legislative portion of the Statehouse; $20 million for renovation of the building that will house state workers and the press corps while construction is ongoing; and $55 million for "project contingency/escalation costs," Rijksen said.

This is not the first time state leaders have debated a Statehouse overhaul. In the 1980s, Republican Gov. Thomas H. Kean rejected a plan pegged at $180 million, reportedly calling it a "Taj Mahal."

Before Kean pulled the plug, the Bergen Record editorial board wrote of the project: "It's turning into a grandiose Trump Tower on the Delaware."