BEHIND THE STEEL CURTAIN: MORE DELAYS FOR CARPENTER PLAZA

The outlook for Robert Irwin’s massive sculpture project in Carpenter Plaza has grown dimmer since the City of Dallas shut down construction recently, after discovering an $85,000 overcharge by Stacey Corporation, a Houston construction firm serving as general contractor. Stacey submitted an invoice of $175,822.50 for the cost of Corten steel; the invoice from the steel supplier, Austin Steel Company, was for $89,667.90. Further investigation revealed that in addition, Stacey was failing to pay many of its suppliers and subcontractors. The city has forwarded its findings to the district attorney, and the project is now in the hands of the bonding company, Employers Mutual of Wausau, which will hire another contractor.

What all of this means is further delay (6 weeks minimum, probably longer) on a project that is already more than five years old. The city decided in 1974 to create a gateway park in the northeast section of downtown to complement Dealey Plaza on the west. Through a series of swaps and condemnations a 3.75-acre tract was assembled for the park, named in honor of John W. Carpenter, former chairman of Southland Life Insurance Company. Acting on the recommendation of an advisory panel, the city bought Irwin’s design for a 700-foot long, one-inch thick Corten steel screen that would cut through a series of earth mounds like a knife.

“We don’t really care who completes it,” says Southland’s Dan Williams, one of the prime movers in the project, “just so long as it gets done. We were hoping for last Christmas. Now we may have to settle for the Fourth of July or worse.”