JHA chief: Prospect Homes ceilings likely 80-year-old originals; officials review ground survey

May 9—JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — Johnstown Housing Authority Executive Director Mike Alberts flipped on Monday through the original 1942 blueprints for the Prospect Homes public housing community to page 17A — labeled "schedule of interior finishes."

A checklist included work to be done on the ceilings in areas such as living rooms and bedrooms. But almost no details were provided, other than a mention of "plaster" with subcategories of "smooth white" and "gypsum." No information was included about the specific types of products used.

Alberts believes after doing some research that today's ceilings in the Prospect Homes complex's 18 residential buildings — which were designed in 1942 and built in 1943 in Johnstown's Prospect section — appear to be the originals described in the blueprints.

Concerns about the safety of those eight-decade-old ceilings recently led the authority to require the community's approximately 220 residents to vacate their units and find new places to live.

The process started earlier this year when one unit's ceiling partially fell down.

Diviney & Associates Structural Engineers then conducted a visual inspection for JHA and determined that all of the ceilings "are most likely destined for collapse."

The inspection report stated: "The wood framing is extremely dry. The ceiling finish appears to be 1/4" to 3/8" gypsum wall board with 1/4" to 3/8" of cement plaster topping. The cement plaster feels heavier than the gypsum wall board. The gypsum wall board is attached to the wood framing with flat head nails. The nails seem relatively short with some penetrating the wood framing about 1/2". Some of the ceiling finish has collapsed due to both nail pull-through and nail withdrawal."

In response to a Right-to-Know request, Alberts started looking through records to see if work on the ceilings had ever been done at Prospect Homes.

"Based on what we can see and at least (from) who's here now knows, there was never any large-scale ceiling replacement done throughout the community where they replaced every ceiling," Alberts said at JHA's headquarters on Monday. "We don't think that ever happened. ... If there was a damaged ceiling from a leak or something like that, it just would have been a case-by-case basis and not something done throughout."

Alberts surmised that there "probably" was a bidding process to build the complex, but pointed out that awarding contracts was done much differently back then than it is now.

The authority still possesses a five-page agreement for Le Reiz Construction, from Queens County, New York, to carry out the "erection and completion of 'Prospect Homes' Low-Rent Housing Project" at a cost of $343,800. No specific details are mentioned in the document about the installation of ceilings.

The JHA-managed Prospect Homes has received widely varying inspection scores from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in recent years. The complex got an overall mark of 93 out of 100 in 2017. That dropped to 53 in 2020, as it earned only 12.07 points out of a possible 43.05 for the condition of the units. A slight rebound to 64 total points occurred in 2022.

A sampling of the structures' exteriors and interiors, common areas, building systems and overall site conditions was examined each time.

Alberts said that he believes the varying scores are a result of "differences in inspectors, differences in what they choose to pick."

The condition of the units' ceilings did not appear to factor into the scores, according to information provided in the reports.

"I didn't go back and look at them all, but I looked at the most recent one," Alberts said. "There was no mention of cracks anywhere but the pavement outside. That's just not what they look for in those inspections. They're looking for smoke detectors. They're looking for broken glass outside, and those inspections do not address anything structural."

JHA also recently had a geotechnical study conducted to determine the condition of the subsurface soil, rock and groundwater adjacent to Prospect Homes' residential buildings.

Apex Companies — a subcontractor for the authority's engineering firm, ABD Construction Services — provided raw data, but no commentary about the state of the ground.

"There is nothing alarming in the geotechnical survey report, but it does confirm that we need to perform grounds/soil grading and drainage activities to ensure the long-term health of the structures in our Prospect community," Alberts said. "Community revitalization would begin with grounds work, followed by structural and internal modernization to ensure that the dwellings will be safe to occupy for the foreseeable future. Even armed with this information, the future of Prospect is still not yet set in stone."

Repairing the properties could cost more than $7 million, according to what Alberts called a "very, very rough estimate."

JHA will now determine what course of action to take. If the authority decides to repair the properties, Alberts said, it would likely need to use some of its own funds and then hopefully get emergency money from HUD.

"They're repairable, but there is still a lot to consider — whether it makes sense to repair them based on what the cost is going to be," Alberts said. "We need to work that out and get a very thorough scope of work of what it's going to take to fix anything with the ground, fix anything with the structures, the ceilings, before we can make a decision for sure."