Although some urgent projects are currently unfunded, executives with Urban Commons, master leaseholder of the Queen Mary, believe they will meet their financial obligations to maintain the ship’s stability and fix any critical repairs, according to Urban Commons’ Chief Development Officer Dan Zaharoni.
An initial $23 million funded by city bonds to aid in repairing the ship is expected to be depleted by the end of the year, according to a presentation by city staff at a special meeting of the Long Beach City Council on September 18.
Johnny Vallejo, property services officer in the city’s economic development department, said that although seven of the most critical repairs have been completed, 20 necessary repairs that were identified in a 2015 marine survey of the ship still remain unfunded.
The marine survey, conducted by marine and naval experts, projected a total of $235 million to $289 million would be needed for short-, mid- and long-term repairs. Yet, Urban Commons had projected that only $50 million was needed for structural repairs.
Zaharoni addressed the discrepancy by pointing out limitations to the survey. “The biggest reason [for that discrepancy] is that the people who conducted the marine survey spent a week on the ship. They walked around and could only inspect what they saw,” he said. “They didn’t see most of the tank top; what they saw were hundreds of thousands of pounds of rusted garbage and debris that had been piled on top of the tank top over the decades.” The tank top refers to the interior lower level of the ship above where the vessel’s fuel tanks are stored.
The marine survey listed limitations of the assessment, which included that it was conducted during one week and that full inspection of the tank top could only be done if “the tank tops have been cleaned of all wastesteel, fixtures and fittings that currently obscure full inspection.”
The experts who conducted the survey found the damage they observed to be extensive enough to represent the state of the entire ship, according to the marine survey.
Zaharoni also said structural repairs to the ship’s hull, tank top and girder system are still undergoing maintenance, but that they were not in as bad shape as originally thought. “We had structural engineers working on the ship for over a year,” he said. “When we got the report back we were very pleasantly surprised that a lot of the concerns people had regarding the structural integrity of the ship were simply unfounded. And most of the hull and the tank top and porting girder system were actually in really good shape.” Zaharoni said he expects these repairs to be completed within the next couple of months.
Some of the current projects Urban Commons is working on include deck floor replacement with teak wood, restoring the outside hull of the ship and fixing the stacks atop the ship.
A portion of the $23 million also went to an unexpected repair of the fire sprinkler system, according to Zaharoni. He claimed that the public has never been safer on the ship because of these repairs.
City Auditor Laura Doud has previously expressed concern about Urban Commons meeting their financial obligations. “We felt like the city ought to have a discussion about the overall plan for the magnitude of repairs and maintenance that the Queen Mary needs rather than just sort of focusing on a small portion,” she said.
Doud continued to say that she now has concerns about Urban Commons going over budget with repairs. “There were unforeseen circumstances regarding the fire code enforcement and safety issues that took much more of the budget than anticipated,” she said.
“What we reviewed is that seven projects were completed that were budgeted at about $7.1 million, but $14.1 million was spent on the seven projects that they’ve completed so far,” Doud said. “Then there are approximately 10 projects that have not started. [For] those projects, the budget is $5.1 million, and zero has been spent because the money is gone.”
As far as considering an audit of Urban Commons, Assistant City Auditor James Lam said it is always a possibility. “We’ll continue to meet with development staff on a quarterly basis to get status updates on progress of maintenance of the ship. And we’ll continue to encourage the department to provide regular updates to the council and to the public on how that progress is moving along,” he said.
Zaharoni assured that whether it would be through funds from the city, Urban Commons or private investors, the financial obligations for maintaining the ship would be met.
“We’re doing everything we can to make Long Beach proud and make the ship everything it can be and we really wish that people would celebrate our successes as much they decry our challenges,” he said.