Feb. 22–The multimillion-dollar face-lift of the Poff Federal Building has entered a new phase, with work now visible from outside the Roanoke skyscraper.

Earlier this month, construction workers began removing the windows that form a glass wall on the north side of the office building.

The work, which has left bright green weather walls where there once was a reflective surface of framed glass panels, is expected to continue for several months, according to Gina Gilliam of the General Services Administration, the federal agency in charge of the renovations.

The frames will be removed section by section, from right to left, as the work progresses from the ground to the top of the 14-story building.

By June, glass from the entire north face of the building will be gone, Gilliam said.

Workers will then use a hoist to install new windows, part of a $51 million project using federal stimulus money to make the building more energy efficient.

The project is the largest and most controversial use of stimulus funds in Roanoke, with U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke County, calling it a waste of taxpayer money.

Although Goodlatte’s questions prompted a congressional hearing last year, the General Services Administration has been moving forward with the project since it was funded in 2009 by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, a spending package passed by Congress with the intent of jump-starting a tanking economy.

Work on the Poff Building began last summer, although at first there was little to see from outside the building.

After several months of internal preparation work on the building, Gilliam said in November that major portions of the north wall would be removed starting in January.

Although that phase of the project was late in getting started, Gilliam said the work remains on schedule and within its budget.

Installation of the new glass on the building’s north wall should be completed by August, Gilliam said. The process will then be repeated on the south-facing glass wall.

Replacement of the windows is just part of the project. Also included in the renovations will be a new roof, restrooms, and heating and cooling system.

About 250 jobs will be created during the project’s three-year span, according to the GSA, and about a dozen Roanoke-area businesses have been awarded subcontracts. Balfour Beatty is the lead contractor.

Goodlatte has questioned whether the $51 million could be better used, saying the GSA never conducted a meaningful cost-benefit analysis.

GSA officials have said modernizing the 37-year-old building is more cost-effective than building a new one. However, the cost-benefit analysis was done only after the government had awarded a major contract for the work, a review by the GSA’s inspector general found in 2010.

Goodlatte said the document — a chart and two paragraphs of text — was inadequate.

Another review by the inspector general found that the GSA violated procurement laws in seeking bids from construction companies.

The agency guaranteed potential contractors a minimum fixed price of $39 million for part of the work, the inspector general found, giving taxpayers “no assurance that a fair and reasonable price was achieved.”