Pioneer Apartments building to be rebuilt
By Daniel Arens
One significant change in the plans for the new Hazen Pioneer Apartments comes even as another hurdle in launching the work is crossed.
“After new numbers came in, we have decided to pursue the option of tearing down the old building,” Buster Langowski, Hazen Community Development (HCD) Executive Director, said.
Langowski stressed that the the new plan has only minimal increases to cost, and that these costs could likely be covered since the rebuild allows the construction to avoid certain problems with the current design.
“We were finding more hidden costs [with renovating the existing building] that we didn’t factor in initially,” Langowski said. He noted that insulation did not work well in the existing building, which would require major interior renovation to adjust.
Also, the design of the rooms were not uniform. In a rebuild, the rooms could not only be given uniformity throughout, but could also be enlarged, as the large hallway between rooms could be reduced from 8 ft. wide to 5 or 6 ft. wide.
