The cost of renovating City Hall has zoomed another 12 percent to an eye-popping $119 million, leading officials to abandon plans made just a year ago to install solar panels on the roof.
The increase comes at a time when Mayor Bloomberg is cutting the city’s capital budget by 10 percent, and is the second since The Post first reported on the project in November 2009, when the cost of modernizing the 200-year-old seat of government was put at $90 million.
The estimate was raised to $106 million a few months later when construction crews discovered more serious structural deterioration than anticipated.
Officials are blaming unexpected issues outside the dilapidated building for adding another $13 million to the hefty price tag.
A colonial-era structure uncovered in the back of City Hall last June provided a treasure trove of artifacts, including a bayonet that may have belonged to a British soldier barracked in the area during the Revolutionary War, and British farthings minted between 1746-54.
The archeological gold mine also meant heavy equipment had to give way to hand-digging around the site, boosting labor costs.
Existing tunnels bringing power to the building were deemed inadequate for the new lines needed for the mechanical equipment being installed in a sub-cellar. Another tunnel was dug.
The decision to give up on the solar panels will save roughly $1 million in construction costs.
The target date for completion of the entire project is March 2012.
It’s the first full-scale modernization of City Hall in 50 years.
But Bloomberg won’t have much time to enjoy his new digs, since he’s leaving office on Dec. 31, 2013.