The NYC Department of Design and Construction’s Design Excellence program, which funnels taxpayer money into public projects by starchitects and up-and-coming architecture firms, has been riddled with cost overruns—sometimes to the tune of tens of millions.
Exhibit A: A Rafael Vinoly-designed NYPD precinct on Staten Island (shown above) was first budgeted at $3M and when it opened in 2013, the price tag had swollen to $73M, DNAInfo reports.
Insiders tell DNAInfo the program, which oversees billions in the construction and renovation of city assets, has “gone off the rails” with projects delivering not just over budget but in some cases over a decade behind schedule.
The program goes back to the Bloomberg Administration, which launched it in 2004. Every two years, DDC picks 24 architecture firms that it allows to bid on city projects. Bids are said to be won not by bidding lowest, but by the quality of the proposal, and fees are meted out based on a percentage of a project’s design budget, undermining the incentive to get a project done on the cheap. [DNA]
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