Eric D. Lawrence

Detroit Free Press

The scaffolding around the building that houses Wayne County’s seat of government is finally coming down.

Repair work on the historic Guardian Building was launched more than three years ago, halted, then restarted this year. Street barriers are expected to come down no later than Friday along Griswold, which is one of the streets adjacent to the Guardian Building, according to a news release from the administration of Wayne County Executive Warren Evans.

The release said emergency brick and terra-cotta repairs by RAM Construction Services, which started this spring , cost $1.3 million. That was on top of almost $900,000 spent during the prior administration of then-Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano for work that started and ended in 2013 and resulted in scaffolding that remained in place for years.

"These emergency repairs are another inherited project from the previous administration that had to be cleaned up," Jim Martinez, a spokesman for Evans, said in an e-mailed response to questions about the scaffolding.

It was unclear why all work was not completed during the Ficano years, but the release said repair costs had escalated to $876,225. The Free Press reported in January, based on the information provided by the Evans administration, that the work cost $187,625, but that was apparently just the initial contract.

Such cost overruns were nothing new to the Ficano administration. Work on the county's unfinished jail on Gratiot was halted in 2013 after projections pushed the cost an estimated $91 million over its $300-million budget. The Evans administration has said it is moving forward — despite a pitch to build a soccer stadium there — with a plan to restart construction at the jail site.

As for the situation at the Guardian, the Free Press previously reported that the county had been spending an estimated $3,400 per month just on scaffolding rental, despite the fact that work had ended there more than two years prior. The Evans administration refused to release requested invoices for the scaffolding rentals.

Today's news release said the administration, which took office in January 2015, "put the building repairs on hold to focus on the county’s broader financial woes." The county is operating under a consent agreement with the state, although administration officials recently reported an improved financial picture and say they hope to request release from the consent agreement this year.

Evans: Unfinished jail is still Wayne County's cheapest option

In September, SmithGroupJJR "was selected to develop a scope and calendar for finishing the project," but the release said work was postponed because of winter and the 12- to 20-week wait time to obtain the special bricks for the building. The bid was issued in December and RAM started work in May.

James Canning, a former spokesman for Evans, had previously said that the Guardian's repair needs were not a surprise when the county bought the building from Detroit-based Sterling Group in 2008 for $14.5 million. The Free Press reported last year that the county had poured tens of millions of dollars into renovations.

Officials in the Evans administration have not been shy about their assessment that purchasing the Art Deco masterpiece for use as the county's headquarters was a mistake, and they have discussed the possibility of selling the building. They have also said that businessman Dan Gilbert has shown an interest in acquiring it.

Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com or on Twitter @_ericdlawrence

More about the Guardian Building

Where: 500 Griswold St.

Opened: 1929

Architect: Wirt C. Rowland of Smith, Hinchman & Grylls

Height: 495 feet

Floors: 40

Office space: 461,102 square feet