Local
Fenty to dip into Eastern Market fund to pay for new levee
By: Michael Neibauer
Examiner Staff Writer
December 8, 2008
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But unlike so many government-run projects that tend to soar above their budgets, the Office of Property Management claims the rebuilt Eastern Market will open in the summer of 2009, $2 million or not.
“[The Office of Property Management] has carefully controlled costs for the project and expects to complete the reconstruction on-time and on-budget without the $2M,” Bill Rice, OPM spokesman, said in an e-mail.
D.C. committed $2.5 million to plug the gap in the West Potomac Park levee by next November, as required by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Designers have settled on two alternatives: Both require construction of concrete walls on either side of 17th Street between Constitution Avenue and the World War II Memorial, a steel post and plate system across the roadway, and a bunker to house the plates.
Fire ripped through both the Eastern Market and the Georgetown Neighborhood Library on April 30, 2007, destroying two historic structures in a pair of three-alarm blazes. Reconstructing both buildings was expected to cost upward of $40 million, and Mayor Adrian Fenty moved quickly to secure the funding.
Market merchants reopened 18 months ago in a temporary structure across 7th Street SE on the grounds of Hine Junior High School.
The final budget for Eastern Market is a “moving target,” Rice said. But it “looks like we have enough money to complete everything we need to do without the $2 million.”
“There’s no way the mayor’s going to open up Eastern Market without it being all done,” said Ward 6 D.C. Councilman Tommy Wells, who represents the market.
“He’s not going to cut a ribbon and say, ‘Oh we don’t have light fixtures.’ The mayor’s not going to shortchange Eastern Market.”
