June 2, 2013 – The newly elected president of Marina City’s condo board got right to the point in her first newsletter to unit owners. “The lobby renovation project is over the budget that was approved by the majority of the former board on November 15, 2012.”

Ellen Chessick, who has been on the board of Marina Towers Condominium Association since 2005, says it was not until the day after the 2013 election that she got her first look at the estimated final costs of a controversial lobby renovation project. Chessick says she and two other board members tried in March to get an accounting of construction costs but “the former board was non-responsive” to their requests.

This time, she got an update – the lobby project is between 25 and 40 percent over-budget – and an explanation from the interim property manager. According to Chessick, William O’Leary – who in late January was brought in to oversee the lobby project and eventually replaced David Gantt, Marina City’s residential property manager since 2003 – told her that many items needed for the new lobbies – such as seating, tables, rugs, and artwork – were not included in the budget or specifications given to contractors.

“It was not a complete budget because there were many items not included,” Chessick (left) says O’Leary told her, “and there were not proper specifications for the project.”

Chessick says O’Leary told her that Gantt, who resigned on March 4, was responsible for overseeing the lobby renovation project but “was not a construction project manager.”

Both Gantt and MTCA attorney Daniel Meyer, however, have pointed out that O’Leary was in charge of the lobby project from just a few weeks after construction started. In a January 28 letter to Marina City Online, Meyer said O’Leary, an assistant vice president at Draper & Kramer, “will coordinate with the contractors to ensure that the project proceeds on schedule and on or under budget.”

A committee has been formed to review the costs and see if anything can be done, although Chessick acknowledges, “the work has already been done and the projects are now complete.”

(Above) These metal gates, long since replaced with automatic sliding doors, guarded the entrance to the elevator lobby of Marina City’s west tower in 1965. The image is from a film produced by Portland Cement Association. Click to view larger version.

Vintage 1960s lobby gates destroyed

With no new lobby furniture in the budget, it was likely welcomed news for the condo association that an employee did not do as told and dispose of the old furniture. That included a leather Knoll sofa by noted interior designer Charles Pfister (1940-1990) that originally cost, says Chessick, $25,000. It had been ordered to a dumpster but the employee instead set it safely aside.

The original elevator lobby gates were not so lucky. Kept in storage for many years, and occasionally considered for future lobby designs, even sculpture or donation to The Art Institute of Chicago, their fate was learned by Chessick and other board members last month.

“Unfortunately, the gates were ordered to be cut up and disposed of during the lobby renovation project because of the imposed time constraints, and the decision was made to not seek out an alternate storage area for the gates.”

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