Former BPS HQ needs $38 million in repairs

[unhappycamper]

http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2015/07/former_bps_hq_needs_38_million_in_repairs



WHITE ELEPHANT: Only 179 city employees still work at 26 Court St., right, and no new tenants can occupy the building until it is brought up to code.

Former BPS HQ needs $38 million in repairs
Saturday, July 11, 2015
Jordan Graham

The Walsh administration is grappling with what to do about a nearly half-vacant city-owned building on prime downtown real estate near City Hall that needs a staggering $38 million in renovations — nearly the entire value of the property — before its floors can start filling up again.

The former headquarters of the Boston Public Schools at 26 Court St. has not been kept up to code, requiring expensive fixes and renovations before the empty floors can be filled, according to Mayor Martin J. Walsh.

“Court Street does not have sprinklers, so the people that are existing in there can stay in there, but ... we can’t put new people in there,” Walsh told the Herald this week.

The fixes, the mayor said, will cost an estimated $38 million. “That’s new alarm systems, sprinkler systems, all of that,” Walsh said.