Cal U says builder used unapproved material
University suing over collapsed parking garage
A contractor being sued over a 2016 collapse inside a parking garage at California University of Pennsylvania did not obtain approval from the state as it was required to do before it used materials now connected to the failure, the university asserts.
In a written response, Cal U said it knew Manheim Corp. of Pittsburgh, general contractor for the Vulcan Garage project, wanted to substitute a carbonfiber product for metal-reinforced concrete that the school initially sought.
The proposed change was contained in the firm’s response to a request for proposals (RFP), which Cal U said it accepted before awarding Manheim a contract in 2009 to build the five-story garage.
But, Cal U also said, “The University was not aware that Manheim did not get approval from the state Department of Labor and Industry for the substitution.”
Manheim has not commented in response to queries this week fromthe Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Labor and Industry had no immediate response to the university’s claim.
The department has said
indicate that as many as seven other parking garages might have been constructed using the same material as contained in Vulcan Garage.
An Aug. 31, 2016, email sent from Mary Lou Sowden, the State System of Higher Education’s director of online library systems, to Steven Dupes, assistant vice chancellor for facilities, said:
“FYI, On Monday, a part of the new parking garage collapsed at California University of Pennsylvania,” she wrote. “The garage was built with a combination of fiberglass and cement ... no rebar.
“The manufacturer of this product also supplied builders with this product for 7 other garages. They are all being inspected.”
The identities of those seven garages and the outcome of the inspections have not been available from the system, which oversees Cal U and 13 other state-owned universities. Robert Thorn, Cal U vice president for administration and finance, said he believes one may be inNorth Carolina.
A State System spokesman said the product was not used on any of its campus garages other than VulcanGarage.
The 650-space Vulcan Garage rises five stories above Cal U. It opened in 2010 behind the campus library and is a short walk from Old Main. Cal U in its lawsuit asserts that the garage and its components are defective and is seeking compensatory damages from Manheim, which received a $10.5 million contract for the work.
During student move-in day on Aug. 26, 2016, a section of concrete 20-feet-long and 2-feet-wide on the second level of the garage crashed onto the level below. No injuries or car damage were reported.
Surveillance video sought by the Post-Gazette under the Right to Know Law and obtained in a Commonwealth Court decision after a yearlong fight shows debris raining down near individuals and cars.
The garage has been closed ever since and has been braced to prevent what Cal U said in the lawsuit is another imminent collapse. Without the ability to charge parking fees, the university said it has had to substitute other campus funds to cover millions of dollars in debt service and other expenses.
CalU’s written answers to questions, released by spokeswoman Christine Kindl, said Mr. Thorn confirmed with the State System that responsibility for “quality control” rests with the contractor, “who is responsible for doing any tests specified in the technical specifications section of the contract.”
The university handled “quality assurance,” meaning Cal U made sure that the contractor or the design professional “is making the appropriate inspections.”
“This is standard construction practice for federal jobs, state Department of General Services projects, etc.,” the university’s response said.
The project manager for the university, the late David Wynne, “would have been responsible for this quality assurance component,” the statement from Ms. Kindl said.