Allen High School in Texas has been forced to close its huge $60 million football stadium after it was discovered that concrete in the structure has begun to crack.
According to a report from The Dallas Morning News, the stadium’s designers, PBK Architects, had previously blamed the cracks on the concrete possibly shrinking at the concourse level. However, the school district's own analysis has concluded that there were flaws in the design itself.
Nelson Forensics said that some of the columns in the concourse area were not designed to hold the weight of the building. Therefore, Superintendent Lance Hindt has determined that the stadium is “not safe for public assembly.”
The stadium was first approved by voters in 2009 and opened in 2012. It has not been used since Februar,y when reports of cracking concrete first surfaced.
KHOU reports that PBK and Pogue Construction did offer $1 million each in escrow to help pay for the repairs, but legal stumbling blocks with insurance companies forced them both to withdraw.
“Our commitment to Allen students and taxpayers remains firm that the stadium be repaired properly at the expense of those responsible for the failure: the architect and the builder,” Hindt said in a statement.
Allen High School will have to play its home games in Plano this season. Plano will be paid $$5,300 for the three Allen “home” games it will host.
PBK and Pogue reps told the Morning News that they are committed to fixing the flaws, while Hindt has said that the district is keeping a record of lost revenue and mounting costs.
“I can’t speculate whether this will be litigated in the future,” Hindt told the Morning News. “All I can tell you is we’re going to get the stadium we paid for.”