More conflicting accounts of DLR gas incident

21-Mar-08 – Another witness has said a representative of Peoples Gas was at Marina City last week to check out a claim of a “hot tap” into a natural gas line in tenant space being renovated by Dick’s Last Resort. The claim was made not so anonymously this time, as it was by residential property manager David Gantt at the MTCA board of directors meeting on Thursday evening.

According to Gantt, a representative of Peoples Gas came to the MTCA office, looking for access to the DLR tenant space. The representative said he was checking out a tip that workers in the space had done a “hot tap” into a gas line. A “hot tap” is a connection made to an active pipeline.

This encounter was witnessed by a resident, who said it happened on the morning of March 13. The claim was posted anonymously on a Marina City blog and repeated in an email to Marina City Online.

After referring the representative to commercial property management, Transwestern Commercial Services, Gantt says he walked around and found where the gas line had been tapped.

“It was kind of a scary situation and luckily the building did not have to be evacuated and it appears to have been done professionally,” said Gantt, “although it’s not professional to do this without notifying the gas company and having the gas turned off.”

According to a spokesperson for Peoples Gas, a service technician found a brass valve on a natural gas line. As of Friday, the valve was still there but Peoples Gas intends to remove it soon. Bonnie Johnson, PR Manager for Peoples Gas, says there was no illegal activity involved with placing the valve, but it was improper and they intend to remove it.

Commercial property manager Robert DeMarke has denied the claim about Dick’s Last Resort. “They wouldn’t have to hot tap anything,” he said on March 15. “We brought gas service to the space for their use months ago – we knew they would need temp heat in order to do their construction.”

According to Gantt, construction inspector David Alpers – whose name is on a Stop Work Order posted at Dick’s Last Resort on February 22 – came to Marina City from the City of Chicago Department of Buildings, spoke with the Peoples Gas representative and determined there were no safety issues.

Gantt also says construction work had been done in the tenant space even after the Stop Work Order was posted. He says he checked with the city and was told architectural plans would not be returned to DLR anytime soon, as the process is going to a review by the city planning department.

 See article at right, More permit setbacks for Dick’s Last Resort

MTCA contemplates meeting on the 20th floor

Anticipating a possible conflict with Transwestern Commercial Services over Dick’s Last Resort, MTCA is working on a contingency plan to create a meeting space on the 20th floor. Although Transwestern will continue leasing to MTCA the meeting room on the concourse level, with a three-percent rent increase from the previous year, the agreement can be cancelled with 30-day notice.

Between a base rent and real estate taxes that MTCA pays, residential property manager Gantt says it will cost the condo association $36,000 per year to rent the meeting room. Meanwhile, space could be created on the 20th floor by arranging the laundry room more efficiently, such as stacking dryers. The laundry room could be made smaller and a meeting room created between the laundry room and a storage room.

Gantt says he will request proposals for creating space on the 20th floor “just in case we get into a fight with Transwestern over Dick’s Last Resort.”

The board voted to accept the rental agreement with Transwestern. It also voted to extend the laundry room license agreement at the same rate for another six months with Universal Laundries of Skokie, Illinois, a deal that earns for MTCA about $120,000 per year.

Emergency balcony post replacement continues

While bids for balcony repair are being evaluated, emergency repair of balcony posts continues, being paid for on a time-and-materials basis. An “emergency” is when three adjacent railing posts are in danger of failing. Each balcony has seven posts.

Gantt again stated that the costs of balcony repair will be covered by reserve funds. The work is being done by Nu-Mill Inc., a structural metal fabrication company based in Addison, Illinois.

  Extensive repair work needed to balconies

The board also voted to approve a contract extension with MDU Communications Inc. MDU will spend $100,000 upgrading high-definition television service to residents. Existing HDTV customers will not have to pay for new receivers. However, there will be an increase of 34 cents per unit per month, which is less than the $1 estimate by MDU General Manager Steve Moore in February.