Shoemaker Bay Harbor renovations delayed, but still within budget

Renovations to Shoemaker Bay Harbor missed the substantial completion deadline last Friday, on May 17. Capital Facilities Director Amber Al-Haddad said that contractors were expected to have the renovations far enough along that boats could be docked in the harbor once again, while the rest of the project was completed. This did not happen, she said, and the whole project has been thrown off schedule

"Their whole schedule has been pushed back," Al-Hadd said. "Everyone's really anxious to get the job done."

She said that the reason the work has been delayed is because of a variety of issues with manufacturers. The steel manufacturer had trouble supplying steel to the float manufacturer, which delayed them in building floats to send to Wrangell.

As installing the floats was one of the main parts of the project, much of the work was delayed while the contractors had to wait for the floats to arrive in town.

That is not to say work has ground to a halt. As drone footage by Wrangell resident Greg McCormack shows, the new ramp from the dock to the parking lot has been installed, and several of the walkways have been built or are in the middle of being constructed.

Contractors are also working on getting electricity and utilities installed at the harbor, Al-Haddad said.

"The contractor is bringing in additional floats," she said. "They have already completed the installation of the main walks C and D."

In another spot of good news, Al-Haddad said that the Shoemaker renovations are still within the budget. The cost of the project is set at about $8.4 million. There was some unexpected increases to state administration fees for the project. Al-Haddad said that the fees rose from 1 percent of the project to 2.48 percent.

Fortunately, she said, about $400,000 of untouched contingency money had been set aside for the renovations, which they will use to cover this additional cost.

The original final completion date of the renovations was set for June 13. No new date has been set, yet, but Al-Haddad said they will begin moving boats back into Shoemaker as soon as the docking is ready.