Gov. Hochul takes drastic steps to fix Capitol building stairs as cost doubles to a whopping $80M

She’s buying a stairway to budgetary hell.Gov.Kathy Hochul’s administration quietly doubled the price tag to renovate the crumbling grand staircase to the state Capitol building — jacking it up to a whopping $80 million, The Post has learned.The price tag of the repairs has skyrocketed from $17 million in 2014 to $41 million in 2022 to upwards of $80 million last fall, amounting to more than quadruple of the project’s cost as questions swirl over its opening date, documents show.It’s unclear where the additional funding will come or if it’s included within Hochul’s Albany upcoming budget plan.“Governor Hochul is committed to investing in the City of Albany and making our State’s Capitol a place all New Yorkers are proud of,” a spokesperson for Hochul told The Post in a statement.“The Office of General Services has initiated a competitive procurement process to responsibly identify a contractor to make much-needed renovations to the Eastern Approach of the Capitol,” the spokesperson sadded.

“By law, we cannot comment further while the procurement process is ongoing.”The 77 steps and promenade adjoining the grand Romanesque entrance known as the Capitol’s eastern approach have been closed since 2015.Poor drainage and significant structural issues have left the stairs sliding downhill towards the Hudson almost as long as they’ve been in existence.A 2014 study quietly commissioned by Gov.

Andrew Cuomo’s administration led to emergency repairs after finding bulging walls and loose bricks in the structure that could be removed by hand.That study estimated the repair costs at $17 million.In Hochul’s first budget after taking over as governor, she and the legislature set aside $41 million to fix the approach, but in typical Albany fashion, the project has still lagged behind.The governor’s administration floated a spring 2028 opening to the Times last year, but the bidding documents estimates the repairs to take four years, throwing ...