OGDEN -- Construction of the new Treehouse Children's Museum, one of the first tangible signs of rebirth at the former Ogden City Mall site, was progressing smoothly and steadily until the time came to start putting up the steel frame about a month ago.We discussed the potential problems resulting from concrete price increases in an earlier WCF article, but this is the first we've recently heard about steel shortages.
Construction crews were ready, but the steel for the project wasn't there.
"It seems like a wave of demand hit just about the time we pulled the trigger," said Dan Osmond, site foreman for Big-D Construction, the general contractor on the project. "Things were slower in the spring, but then the demand hit like a tidal wave just a couple months ago."
The lack of available steel delayed the project only about two weeks, but it shows how a worldwide surge in demand for steel and other building materials is having an impact everywhere, including in the Top of Utah.
Shortages of steel have delayed some building projects in the area, and rebounding prices this summer have caused headaches for project bidders who see project costs rise from the time they are bid on to the time materials are delivered.
Treehouse Museum director Lynne Goodwin said the approximate $3.6 million price tag on the project has grown some due to material cost increases, which Big-D and the team of subcontractors and suppliers on the project have helped offset.
"There have been challenges, but because we're a nonprofit, everyone involved has tried to help keep this project in line with our budget," Goodwin said.
Last year at about this time, steel shortages, resulting from frenzied industrial activity in China and elsewhere in Asia, caused a severe price spike that's reflected in the above past year's stock charts of U.S. Steel and Nucor (which is mentioned in the Std-Ex article.)
The steel shortages and price increases that occurred just about this time last year didn't abate until about March of 2005. Steel is a "cyclical" commodity, the price of which responds powerfully to changes in world supply and demand. If there's a persistent steel supply shortage in the works, as occurred last year at this time, the whole Recreation Center project could be in severe jeopardy, unless Ogden City can lock-in something resembling current price terms with the general contractor, Ogden-based R&O Construction, prior to expiration of its bid at the end of this month.
What are the chances that R&O Construction will want to take that risk?
The Ogden City administration has to be sweating bullets over this.
Comments anyone?
8 comments:
It's the end of the world as we know it, and I'm not feeling fine.
I don't like to get all apocalyptic, but with oil, steel and concrete shortages, and a growing demand for those products in Asia, all topped off by continuing worldwide population growth, the future is starting to look ugly.
We need the "Minutemen" to come up from the Arizona border and take things into their own hands and save us.
Centerville Cit - you missed the comet when Koutek came through a couple of years ago! That was the only escape till the next one comes by and only the lord knows the exact schedule!
The world as we know it here in Utah and the US is going to be going through some big time changes in the next decade. It should be one hell of a ride, I'm excited!
Hey, I'm not a nut. Actually, the future may not be so bad. Maybe someday most of our energy resources will come from sun, wind and ethanol right here in the United States. So instead of outsourcing billions of $ for Saudi oil, we can create more jobs here with windmill power plants and sugar cane farms. Ok, that's seeing it thru rose-colored glasses, but if it proves to you that I'm not a doomsdayer, I've accomplished something.
CC, I like your style. I don't get the impression that your a doomsdayer. I get the impression that you're CONCERNED. As am I. Life goes on, but there are ample considerations out there, as you've aptly pointed out, that should give one pause.
Who knows if the Treehouse tested the soil prior to building. I'd hope that they did, and if they had a professional developer or realtor, attorney, or really good builder, one of these people should have provided for such testing. It's basic, boiler plate duty nowadays. Just because it might not have been done 30 years ago, when Dirks built the old mall, doesn't mean that there is no problem. Look at the rec center site.
If testing wasn't done prior to ground breaking, maybe they'll test it now that there's a steel cost hold-up. Better late than never. Contaminants do strange things (remember the wooden swing set where the material was made from treated wood that when got wet leeched into the ground and if the children fell on that ground, they developed cancer and other maladies? The EPA paid big-time for that one).
You bring up good points, CC. Too bad you live in Centerville and not Ogden. We'd run ya for the Mayor's office.
Hey, thanks EC. You know, after reading and commenting on this blog, I have a greater appreciation for Ogden. If I didn't feel so obligated to certain causes here in Centerville, I'd definitely consider going north to the land of my ancestoral roots. I was just in Ogden today, and I was able to enjoy a nice sandwhich at Gandolfo's on 25th while looking out the window at all the activity. Ogden's definitely not as bad as most people say it is. Oooo, the co-op art gallery down on 25th is pretty neat too.
Come to think of it, my Ogden roots run so deep that there's always a chance that I may be related to someone else that comments regularly on this blog. Maybe not, but you never know, it's a small world.
There's so much potential in this town it makes me crazy. Why it hasn't been tapped is beyond me. Actually, I think I know what's going on: the Gang of 6, with Harmer, Johnson, et al in tow, just get in the way with their burdensome developments. Everything is geared toward this "donald Trump pretend" that real business takes a back seat. The job of city government is to run a city, not develop it. Leave that to the pros, the guys who do it for a living and understand what it's all about. We should bend over backwards to accomodate these professionals, not attempt to become one just because of an office somebody holds.
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