LYNN — Curwin Circle’s residential concrete steps have taken a tumble, but Lynn Housing Authority and Neighborhood Development has plans to revitalize the space.

​In the recent Board of Commissioners meeting, members deliberated on the change order of the project’s contract, shrinking the cost of the stairs by half.

The contract with Obtek Services was first voted on and approved in April, with an estimate of $148,000 needed to demolish the existing 31 cast-in-place steps and replace them.

The original construction costs, however, have been amended by LHAND to cut the per-stair rebuilding cost from $4,800 to $2,400, according to LHAND’s Procurement and Facilities manager Charles J. Minos.

Before construction began, the severity of the deterioration was unknown. When construction began, Minos shared that the stairs’ foundation was found to be in rougher shape than expected.

“Once you take out the existing stairs, it’s rotted, and it’s bad,” Minos said.

A majority of the deterioration has resulted from water damage, which created openings that allowed rodents to make tunnels through the surrounding soil in the stairs’ foundation, weakening the overall soil’s structure for rebuilding, Stephen Smith from LHAND’s maintenance department said.

Smith shared that, when considering the amount of damage done to the foundation and the stairs themselves, “the price of the repair is actually cheap.”

“Once you see the destruction, you really can’t unsee it,” Smith said. “You know, we have to fix it. The threshold is actually unsafe when you step on them and can see the deterioration.”

Even with the close-to $75,000 quote for the steps, Smith shared that there will be future costs after they’re completed to ensure they remain safe for use.

“It looks like everything there is in terrible shape,” LHAND Executive Director Charles Gaeta said.