GREEN MOUSE SAYS: Is the price tag escalating for our luxury City Hall at the Reisz Furniture building?

Patiently awaiting the arrival of warm weather, which might lessen the pain in his sacroiliac joint, the Green Mouse was thoughtfully nursing a beer downtown when a conversation broke out nearby.

Know that in the Mouse's world, an "earbud" is what blooms when quotable quotes drift his direction.

The gist of this overheard chat was the actual condition of the former Reisz Furniture building, long neglected but now the focus of a rehabilitation effort intended to transform it into a City Hall suitably luxurious for Dear Leader's habitation.

Toward this end, the Denton Floyd construction firm is supposed to purchase the building, repair it and lease space to the city under a "rent to own" arrangement. Press releases have been issued, and some incumbent councilmen have started plotting their cubicle decor.

The laudatory plaques have been submitted for engraving.

However, what the Green Mouse heard suggests that the tableau isn't quite as rosy as depicted thus far. In short, the building's structural deficiencies might be greater than anticipated, requiring additional wheelbarrows of cash, and requiring those media packets to be updated.

If so, one immediate question is whether this was suspected from the start, or only recently uncovered during preliminary site work. As Bostonians in the vicinity of the Big Dig surely would attest, the devil possesses no single detail quite like cost overruns.

Are we looking at a similar scenario here? At least one prominent local contractor refrained from past rehab possibilities owing to his assessment of the building's condition.

As they're fond of saying on the Internet, does anyone know what's going on?

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Previously at NAC:

ON THE AVENUES: Return to sender; decency is such a lonely word ... the sounds of silence reign o'er me.

Speaking of diversionary facades: "The Anti-Gay, Anti-Choice Politics of The Knights of Columbus."

ON THE AVENUES: Super Tuesday shrapnel – or, tiptoeing through the tulips with Dan Coffey, now THE face of historic preservation in New Albany.

Reisz Vote Buy Bonanza: "The News and Tribune asked to interview Mayor Jeff Gahan and was instead referred to statements in a news release."

Told you so: "New Albany in talks to relocate City Hall to Reisz Furniture building."

GREEN MOUSE SAYS: Is Denton Floyd acquiring the Reisz building for use by a relocated NA City Hall? We think a deal is imminent.