Why downtown Modesto’s Tenth Street Place is getting an emergency face-lift

Tenth Street Place, the local government building in downtown Modesto, is getting a much-needed emergency face-lift.

The building’s facade along J Street has been partially eroded by warm sunrays, blistering wind and pelting rain, creating deficiencies in the wall.

As a result, rain would penetrate the wall into the building that houses administrative government offices for Modesto and Stanislaus County, said Jason Roberts, Tenth Street Place facility manager.

“Every time it would rain, there would be water leaking through the wall,” Roberts said in a phone interview Monday. “They always just thought it was leaking through the windows.”

He said the 20-year-old stucco that coats the building’s exterior surface has “reached the end of its useful life.” Solid Solutions Construction Services, a Modesto-based general contractor that specializes in water proofing, has been hired to make the repairs at Tenth Street Place.

Roberts said the construction firm started its work on Nov. 9, patching and reinforcing the stucco and repairing the wall deficiencies. The repair work also includes re-sealing with silicone coating to waterproof windows from the third to sixth floor. He said the windows on the first two floors are made of different material.

The repair work is strictly for the side of the building along J Street, between 10th and 11th streets, which seems to be the only side that’s weather-beaten, according to Roberts.

The damage to wall along J Street was so severe, that the county’s Board of Supervisors in October declared that emergency repair work was needed. Roberts said it the damage to offices could’ve been significant had the repair work not been done before another series of wet, winter storms.

He said the total cost of the project is $266,000 is coming from the Tenth Street Place Joint Powers Agency capital improvement fund. The city and county Joint Powers Agency oversees Tenth Street Place.

The work is expected to be done by late December, Roberts said, and the scaffolding erected alongside the building will remain there until the repairs are completed.

This story was originally published November 20, 2018 at 12:33 PM.