High-cost high-rises
What is it going to cost to fix Harbor Towers?
The fear of that unknown -- a potentially huge number -- has plunged Boston's concrete waterfront eyesore with its million-dollar views into campaign mode. Groups and splinter groups of neighbors have formed to support and question the wisdom of the massive renovation project. Charges, of course, are flying.
``It is like Russia. We are the owners. We pay substantial fees, and we don't have any rights," says Helen Rees, a prominent literary agent who has lived in Harbor Towers since 1993. ``It is like KGB Towers I and II."
The passions are rising as a decision by the board of trustees nears about the extent of the renovation of the 40-year-old twin towers, one of the lesser works of famed architect I.M. Pei. Joseph Baerlein, a cochairman of the board, says the buildings' electrical, heating, and air conditioning systems need replacing, but he is unwilling to estimate the reconstruction costs. ``I don't want any number attached to my name yet. I don't know," says Baerlein, a principal in Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications, a Boston public relations firm.
Harbor Towers, which has 624 units and more than 1,200 residents, was built between 1968 and 1972 at a cost of about $35 million. One resident deeply involved in the deliberations put the projected cost of the renovations at $50 million to $60 million, maybe more. Another owner said she had been told the assessment for the construction would be about $80 a square foot, putting the share for her double unit at $200,000.
It was just a decade ago that Harbor Towers' residents were hit with a substantial assessment to replace 1,700 leaking windows. The Battle of the Leaky Windows was long-running and heated, and included a particularly nasty special election contest for the board.
Not this time. The board has deferred a scheduled election for three trustee seats from September to October so the current 10-member board can vote up or down on the renovation, which has been in the planning for years. Baerlein says the board agreed it would be too difficult for new board members to wade into the middle of such a complex decision. Rees says delaying the election ``increases the anxiety about what they are going to do with the assessment."
Some angry residents also complain they have been denied access to engineering and other reports. Until recently they were required to sign nondisclosure statements to see the studies and were not allowed to make notes. Baerlein says the limitation on access protects the integrity of the bidding among contractors. Some residents want a vote on the renovations; Baerlein says the board will decide.
Yesterday, in an effort to calm the waters, the trustees sent out a seven-page letter explaining the proposals. ``What is troubling is what this letter does not contain -- direct answers to our many questions and evidence that this project is absolutely necessary," says Peter Brill, an architect and outspoken critic of the trustees' efforts.
Many residents, however, are supportive. ``The problems are not going to go away," says Mahmood Malihi, a principal of Leggat McCall Properties. ``It is like the dams of New Orleans. When it does fail, it could be catastrophic." Adds Baerlein: ``The alternative of doing nothing is not an acceptable alternative if you have a shred of common sense."
Construction could take up to 20 months, and residents worry what the disruption and a big assessment could mean for property values. Already the upfront costs have exceeded $3 million, including nearly $250,000 in lawyers' fees to Holland & Knight.
No one doubts that something has to be done. But who can blame anxious Harbor Towers residents for looking out their windows -- the ones that no longer leak -- to the still unfinished Big Dig below and worrying about where it all ends?
Steve Bailey is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at bailey@globe.com or at 617-929-2902. 
