Elusive Quarry : Problems With Marble Blamed in Reagan Courthouse Delay

After surviving the axes of congressional budget cutters and the knives of government cost reviewers, the Ronald Reagan Federal Courthouse in Santa Ana faces another formidable challenge: where to get tons of Italian marble needed to adorn the building.

Officials said the 10-story structure, which will house 14 elegant courtrooms, will not meet its December 1997 completion date because of contracting snafus and concerns over the quality of the travertine marble being quarried in Tivoli, Italy. By now, the skeleton of the steel girders should have been concealed by 360,000 square feet of the pricey,polished stone, said Mary M. Filippini, a spokeswoman for the General Services Administration, the federal government’s housekeeping agency.

Instead, judges and lawyers hoping to dispense justice from the new building as early as January will have to wait several more months. Federal officials, unhappy with the situation, have been holding tense discussions with representatives of Pasadena-based Ray Wilson Co., the project’s main contractor.

“We really have some concerns about his ability to perform,” Filippini said. “The stone should have been put up already.”

A senior official with the Ray Wilson Co. said his workers were hoping to finish the job by the end of March 1998, just three months behind schedule. But sources told The Times that problems with the marble could delay the project for up to 10 months.

The delay has frustrated local Department of Justice employees who have been working out of cramped quarters in various buildings in downtown Santa Ana while awaiting the completion of the federal building.

When completed, the building will centralize federal operations in Orange County and include courtrooms with vaulted ceilings for district judges, federal magistrates, and bankruptcy judges. Several agencies, including the U.S. attorney’s office, the federal public defender’s branch and U.S. Marshals Service, will also have new offices in the building.

Thomas Bienert, who heads the U.S. attorney’s office in Santa Ana, said he was disappointed with the delay.

“We’re looking to getting into a new building where we’ll have additional space to house additional prosecutors to better meet federal law enforcement needs in Orange County,” he said.

But Bienert and others have become accustomed to encountering hurdles in the courthouse project.

Construction of the building, which began in June 1995, was postponed two years earlier when a federal task force headed by Vice President Al Gore called for a moratorium on construction of new office buildings.

The project survived the moratorium, but congressional budget cutters allocated $123 million for the project, slashing the initial figure by $40 million.

About $5 million from that amount was expected to be used to purchase the travertine from Italian suppliers, said K.C. Gopal, president of Ray Wilson Co.

Travertine is a light-colored marble that has adorned buildings for centuries--from Roman palaces to Orange County shopping malls. Its polished look and durability reportedly make the stone a favorite of Orange County billionaire Donald Bren, who has used it on several of his large buildings including the 20-story Jamboree Center at Jamboree Road and Main Street in Irvine.

For the Ronald Reagan Federal Courthouse, federal officials have been unwilling to accept just any ordinary travertine for the building’s walls and atrium. So far, agency officials made two visits to the Tivoli quarry to ensure that high-quality travertine would be shipped to Santa Ana, Gopal said.

The officials made the second visit last year to verify that a darker shade of the marble would be sent for the window trims, he added.

Federal officials also hired an Italian crew to ensure quality control, Filippini said.

Gopal said his company has already received some of the 230 container shipments of travertine needed to cover the building, which he said is “close to 50% completed.”

He said the delay in receiving the stone was due to “unusual winter storms” in Italy, which prevented quarrying work.

“With a project of this size, you can expect some delay,” Gopal said, “but both the government and our company are working” to solve the problem.

Filippini appeared unconvinced.

“We have a seriously credibility problem with these people,” she said. “They’re going to have to prove to us that they can get the job done in a timely fashion.”