The St. Louis Business Journal [1] reported today on Blunt Administration plans to move multiple state tenants into the newly renovated Old Post Office Building in downtown St. Louis.

Blunt front-man Mike Keathley was all smiles as he detailed the arrangements:

"This represents our contribution to the development of this significant piece of property and the development of downtown St. Louis," Keathley said. "We think the development of the Old Post Office has been a significant contributing factor to the rehabilitation of downtown St. Louis."

What Keathley didn't tell the Journal is that the Blunt Administration will likely have to start from scratch in building a parking garage for the Old Post Office.

Construction on the state-owned garage is shoddy and likely a total loss. Why? Because the Blunt Administration failed to monitor construction of the multi-million dollar structure.

Recently released records from the Missouri Development Finance Board [2] (scroll down under Executive Director's Report) tell this sad story about the elegantly named "9th Street Garage" project:

• Nearly half of the poured concrete piers in the project are "sub-standard"
• Keathley's agency, the Office of Administration, was suppose to monitor construction for the state
• Keathley's agency is concerned that all the piers in the project are bad

The records don't shed light on another serious question: whether the Blunt Administration's actions should be categorized under waste, fraud or abuse.

How about all of the above?

Update by Roy Temple on November 22, 2005 at 5:00 p.m. :

According to Steven Stogel, of the DFC Group, the parking garage is a joint venture of the DFC Group and the Desco Group and the joint venture had oversight responsibilities for the project.

Stogel, an experienced developer, says that all of the piers for the garage have been tested and that some needed corrective work, which is being undertaken at no additional cost to the state.  Stogel asserts that problems of this nature are not uncommon in this type of project and that tried and true methods are being applied to any problems.

Stogel says the project is still on schedule for a completion date in the 4th quarter of 2006. 

And never one to miss a chance to promote his projects, Stogel says that 972 of the 1050 spaces in the garage are already under lease to tenants from nearby buildings, including his pride and joy, the Old Post Office.