40 years ago: Payment to construction company withheld pending leak repairs

From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Nov. 11, 1973:

  • Final payment on Babcock Place, the $1.2 million housing project for the elderly at 17th and Massachusetts, was being put on hold pending repair of stubborn water leaks. A second silicone water-proofing treatment was being applied to the building’s exterior; however, “informed sources” were claiming the problem had been caused by failure to mix a waterproofing compound in the mortar. Leaks had stained walls and carpeting on the top floor of the building. “We’re not talking about something that makes uninhabitable on that floor but we’re talking about a little decency,” said Bill Bywater, executive director of the Lawrence Housing Authority. “You don’t want to come back to your apartment and find a little puddle there.” Bywater said that he would await evidence that the silicone treatment had solved the problem before paying B. B. Anderson Construction Co. Inc., Topeka.
  • A year of delays on the first of three Highway K-10 improvement projects was finally scheduled to end soon. The Kansas Highway Commission expected to acquire two tracts of land holding up progress on the first project, 7.5 miles of four-land highway from one mile south of DeSoto east to K-7. If the tracts were acquired, contracts for the project would be let by December 13, with construction possibly beginning in January.